


Rise of the Zombie Apocalypse

by lazy_dork



Series: rise of the zombie apocalypse, an ROTBTFD AU [1]
Category: Brave - Fandom, Frozen (2013), How to Train Your Dragon - Fandom, ROTBTD - Fandom, Rise of The Brave Tangled Dragons - Fandom, Zombieland (2009), rise of the guardians, tangled - Fandom
Genre: Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-10-13
Packaged: 2018-01-17 23:35:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 32,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1406779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazy_dork/pseuds/lazy_dork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Hiccup and his friends are caught in the middle of the zombie apocalypse, they face a series of interesting circumstances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

My alarm made any song at this point in the morning sounded awful; it didn’t matter if it was Justin Bieber or Imagine Dragons, it sucked. Toothless jumped onto my chest and nibbled at my nose. “Good morning, Bud.” I said, sitting up and putting on my square rimmed glasses. I picked him up off of my lap and sat up over the edge of the bed, and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I put on a t-shirt, trousers, my favourite green hoodie and my hiking boots, I didn’t care what people thought, and they were comfy.

I went down stairs to get some breakfast; I didn’t need much to eat in the morning. I poured out some cat food for Toothless. He licked his lips hungrily and immediately dug in. The TV was already on, showing the morning news. My father walked in, already in his suit ready for his day of debating in parliament. “Ah, good morning, Father.” I said,

“Morning,” he mumbled. Suddenly I zoned into the news, they were talking about a contagion spreading through the country and may spread internationally within the next few days. “Interesting,” I commented, all I got was a grunt in response, which is understandable since he spends the whole day listening to people fight about stuff like that. I picked up my back pack, said good bye to Dad and Toothless and left for school.

Sophomore year absolutely sucked, there was too much social drama for me to handle. Most of the time I just wanted to shrink into a shadow and get the year over with. I sat on the bus; it was either that or an awkward silent drive from Dad. I heard Snotlout and the twins at the back laughing about something, probably not as funny for people around them. I sat down at the front, alone, as usual and shrunk down into my seat and waited out the trip, staring out of the window, watching the houses go by. I plugged in my earphones and listened to some music, which is what I usually do when I am in a moving vehicle.

I finally got to school; it was a small one with a rectangular perimeter and only one basketball court, so you can imagine the size of the grass area then. Everything sucked about this place. We aren’t allowed to go through the front door or the student services office (SSO), which sort of contradicts its’ title. So I entered through the side gate which was only like ten metres away from the SSO.

I made my way to my locker, there was nobody I really felt like talking to, this was not an unusual occurrence. The day had barely started and I was already incredibly exhausted. I got my books and headed to the library, I very accidentally knocked into Snotlout while trying to keep my head down, my books fell to the ground. I bent down to pick them up, as I had guessed Snotlout and the twins just laughed a little and continued on their way.

I sat down at a table to do some sketching, not like I was trying to achieve anything other than pass time and try to take my mind off of just about everything. A few minutes later, Astrid came in, probably looking for something to do. She came over and sat down opposite me, “You really need to talk to people or you know, not spend as much time in the library or with your nose in a book as usual,” she began.  
“Good morning to you too, Milady,” I replied, not really looking up. “And really, what’s the point, what am I supposed to talk about? It’s not like I’m that interesting.”  
“I beg to differ; you see you’re smart and well, umm talented?”  
“Thanks, big relief.”  
“On a different note, did you hear about the ‘plague’ or whatever that’s going around? They’re calling it ‘the Apocalypse’,” I scoffed.  
“Yeah, I saw something on the news, but you know I never really pay attention to that crap.”  
“Anyway, it’s apparently so bad that we’re having immunisations today because of it all. I wonder what caused it.” My spirits dropped further than they already had, I hated injections of any sort.  
“And even greater and I'm not sure, there is a kind of Zombie Ant that could have been a contributing factor.” I said.

"How do you know that?"

"I pay attention in biology, I know shit. It's not all about sex, you know." The bell went for home group; luckily our room wasn’t too far away. We got up and walked out with the few other students who actually went to places with books voluntarily, which wasn’t anyone really that popular other than Astrid who wasn’t that much into reading. She just went down there for the hell of it or if she didn't have anyone to hang out with in the gym.

We sat through the notices as they droned on; our immunisations were early in the day. The only thing i was really looking forward to was engineering but it was dulled by the amount of immaturity of the other guys in the class. I still liked learning about circuits and machines nonetheless. So I guess that just leaves going home for the highlights.

When it came to immunisations, I was after a really popular guy in my grade called Jack Frost, which was probably a contributing factor to his popularity. Plus he had that kind of look that attracted almost all the girls in the grade, well him and Flynn Rider who already had a girlfriend. Her name was Rapunzel, she was really nice, she was even a friend of mine which never ceased to surprise me. She had that kind of approachable aura to her and she was really pretty with her long blonde hair and perfect complexion.

“Nervous?” Jack asked me, his voice was a little shaky which as far as I knew was weird for him. He was always confident with just about anything. For a moment I was surprised that he actually noticed me let alone speaks to me, he was well known for having white hair despite his age and unnaturally blue eyes. I shrugged, “I hate these things.” I said “but I suppose the purpose of it all is worthwhile if you think about it.”

“I like your attitude, my friend.” he said, slapping me on the back.

“Uh, thanks?”

“It’s Henry, right?”

“Well, yes. But I get the hiccups a lot and when I do it’s really funny for other people so the nickname Hiccup, kinda stuck.”

“I like it, it’s a different name. It has humour even though it isn’t very original although you can’t exactly call someone ‘Involuntary Diaphragm Contraction’ or something really offensive.” I laughed; it really was funny thinking about being called that name. “So do you know what this is all about?” I ask, I was still was a little confused.

“Well, apparently there was this still on the news about this contagious parasite spreading through the population, very deadly.”

“Huh, sounds serious then.”

“Yeah, some topic for small talk.”

It was now Jack’s turn; I wished him luck and waited in slight suspense for my turn which soon came. I walked behind the screen and rolled up my sleeve as instructed by the nurse and looked away. I couldn’t help but notice that the needle was huge I did not want to do this. The nurse told me to focus on wriggling me toes, so I did. It didn’t help much in the way of feeling the both sharp and dull pain of the injection. My head began to hurt a little; I was given the customary lolly and plastic cup of water. Jack was next to me, about a table away, he didn’t seem to be coping at all well with the medicine.

He looked extremely pale and was gasping for breath. He tried to stand up but was too weak, I thought I didn’t cope well with these things, but he took it to a whole new level. He fell over, the tiny nurse was too small to hold him so I ran over to help, which probably was not the best idea was since I was still recovering from my own injection, my head began to spin a little. He looked absolutely awful and was shaking; I put his arm over my shoulder, even though he was a lot taller than me. It still helped support him. We walked over to the sick area to sit down and recover, “That: was not fun.” Jack stated after a few minutes of getting his breath back,

  
“You can say that again.” I answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can i just apologize in advance for any grammatical errors or bad writing, im really bad at this sort of this thing. i hope it makes sense and that you like it :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow! i never thought that a zombie apocalypse fanfic (especially one of mine) would get quite the amount of hits that it did from just one chapter!

It took about an hour before Jack got better; it was time for recess so we went our separate ways to get our food. He usually hung about with the more popular guys. So I sat down in my usual spot and waited for Astrid or someone. “Well, the immunisations weren’t that fun were they?” she said sitting down. “Nope,” I answered, “how did yours go?”

“Fine, you?”

“Meh, uneventful. Other than the fact that Jack Frost himself and I made small talk.” I didn’t think Jack would want me to go blabbing to everyone about his reaction.

“Are you catching up with Merida this week?” Astrid asked Merida went to a different school to us; we only really got to talk to her on Facebook or something.

“Yeah, I think so.” We chatted about books and various other things until the end of break. I went off to engineering, we were building speakers at the moment, it was hard, following some of the instructions but I really enjoyed it. Astrid was off at sport, didn’t seem that appealing to me at all.

The rest of the day droned on, I had English with Rapunzel we only really talked during that subject. I began to really like English; it was becoming my third favourite subject to Engineering or science, I knew art was up there with them. It didn’t mean I was that good at it though. It passed quickly and it was finally time for home. I caught the bus and listened to loud music all the way, blocking out the world. When I got home, I got out the ice-cream and put it on the bench to defrost and slumped on the couch to turn on the TV. Toothless jumped up to the couch and curled up next to me, I scratched him behind the ear, he really liked that.

I checked my phone for messages, I went on Facebook just for the sake of it and my whole dash was filled with the news. The disease was spreading a lot quicker than anticipated, ‘great’ I thought to myself. It informed us to stay inside and keep all doors and windows locked and not to leave our homes as of 5pm tonight. Did Dad know? I messaged Merida and Astrid, letting them know what was happening. It was 4pm now, Dad had an hour. I tried to call him, but he didn't pick up.

I went to serve up some ice-cream and walked to the front window with the bowl of yumminess in hand, I looked out onto the street saw a woman, about 30 or so running down the road, weird. She wasn’t dressed like a jogger. I noticed someone else chasing her, he looked awful, there was blood down his shirt and from what I could see; his face was all screwed up and maimed.

She woman kept on running until she tripped, the man caught up to her. I stared in horror unable to look away as he tore off her leg. I dropped the bowl of ice-cream, letting the ceramic dish smash on the floor, I felt sick. ‘Da ta da, we’re dead’ I thought to myself pessimistically. I ran downstairs before the man would notice me, but he did seem a little busy ripping the woman apart. I knew how to drive, I just didn’t have a license I learnt on a farm when when I was younger. After I packed some essentials like clothes, water, medicine and bandages into my backpack, I stopped to get the knife that Dad gave me for self-defence from my room and strapped it onto my belt, I looked rather dorky but I didn’t care. It was a straight blade and was about a foot long. It was only just in case. I couldn’t leave Toothless behind; I picked him up and let him sit on my shoulder. He dug his claws into by jacket, but I was kinda expecting that. Luckily dad had left the Cruzer in the driveway, it was a hideous car. But I liked it.

I climbed in after putting my bag in the boot and put toothless on the passenger seat. I reversed out onto the street once the man had gone and drove to Merida’s. When I got there, I left Toothless in the car and checked if I had locked it and ran up to her door and banged on the door, she came to answer, “What?” she almost yelled, sticking her head through the doorway. I pushed myself through the door and slammed it behind us, “Zombies.” I said, gasping for air,

“What?”

“All over the place, so it seems. Pack your things, we’ve got to go, now.” I said.

“What about our parents and stuff?” she asked.

“All we can do now is get out of here and hope they’re all right. Where are yours? and your Brothers?” she had triplets for brothers.

“They're all in Australia for some business the boys went with them, wasn't you Dad meant to go on that trip?” she said, walking into her room to pack,

"Yeah, he had something else to do," I called back, "Do you think it has something to do with all this?" I went into their kitchen to look for some food, there were some organic muesli bars, her Mum liked that sort of stuff.

"I'm not sure, wasn't he in the army?"

"Yeah, he was." I realised, maybe that was what he was doing. Merida emerged a couple of moments later with her bag and I looked out of the window for any zombies. “Have you got your bow?” I asked,

“Why?”

“You might need it,”

“Hiccup, I’m not allowed to use that thing outside the training centre, it’s illegal.”

“And I drove over here without a license; I imagine the authorities aren’t terribly worried about these things right now.”

“Fine,” She went out to her shed in the back yard; I followed just in case of any zombies. We went inside; she grabbed the bow and all the arrows she could find in a hurry. We heard a grunt, coming from outside. We turned and froze; at the door was a zombie just standing there. Merida quickly armed the bow and shot an arrow straight in its forehead, it was disgusting. The corpse fell backward, most likely dead. We weren’t staying to find out.

We ran through the driveway and got into the car, I checked the back seat for any zombies, nothing. Merida threw her bag and equipment into the back seat. I reversed out of the driveway, and we headed down the street, “Where now?” Merida asked.  
“Astrid’s,” I answered. I turned on my phone to play some music, I really needed some right now and Merida didn’t seem to mind.

We arrived at Astrid’s house about ten minutes later, Merida grabbed her bow and I got my dagger. I locked the car and we knocked on the front door, it opened almost immediately, it was worrying how quick she was to answer the door at a time like this, it could be anyone, but we couldn't worry about that now. “Let me guess, you’re here to get me so we can get away from the zombies?” she asked,

“Yes, we need to get out of here, now.”

“Family?”

“All we can do is hope for the best.” I say to Merida, “Pack your things, we need to get out of here.” A zombie started heading towards us from down the street, Merida shot an arrow at its head. It embedded itself into the zombie's skull with a sickening crunch.

“Can we come in?” I asked,

“Yeah, I think you should.” Astrid replied. She rushed upstairs to pack her things, and came down a little later with her bag. She quickly ran outside and got a battle axe from her shed, “Let’s go then,” she said.


	3. Chapter 3

We all piled into the car, with our luggage in the boot and weapons next to us. “Let’s get Rapunzel,” said Astrid, I agreed. Merida didn’t know Rapunzel all too well but they did get along after a few conversations, but she didn’t object. “Where’s Toothless?” I asked, the thought had just occurred to me, Rapunzel checked the seats behind her. He was there, a wave of relief washed over me after the brief moment of panic.

We saw zombies all over the road, running around and chasing people, cars crashed everywhere, and we weaved through the debris and panic. I tried to hit the most zombies I could with the car. I chose to try not to take account of the blood and body parts all over the road, it was harder not to notice than I thought, I tried not to be sick and rechecked if the doors were locked. It was complete chaos, I thought of the twins at school, they would want to live here. It was no time to think about them, they probably funded a scientist to cause all this, just for fun.

We saw a familiar figure down the road with a blue hoodie, it was Jack! He was running around, hitting zombies with a hooked stick- weird. It helped him apparently. We sped up to where he was; luckily he had survived the first stage of what was looking like the zombie apocalypse. “Hey guys!” he said, after we let him in, he slumped in the backseat next to Merida. “Thanks, by the way.” He added. “No problem,” I answered.

“Who are you?” Jack asked Merida,

“Merida, I’m a friend of Astrid and Hiccup’s.”

“Pleased to meet you,”

“Ditto,”

“How about some music?” suggested Jack, leaning forward between the two front seats.

“Sure,” I answered, switching on some Fall out Boy, nobody complained. We drove on to Rapunzel’s place. It was a little way from where we were, up in the city hills. The road twisted and turned, sometimes it was really narrow on the precipice of a steep slope, I was careful. I had always wanted to drive through here, it always looked so fun, and it was. Jack and Astrid went inside, they emerged a little later with Rapunzel, she was carrying a fry pan for some weird reason, second weirdest zombie weapon of the day, I think Jack took the prize with a stick. “Hi!” she called, running towards the car, I was glad that the vehicle was a seven-seater. It would have definitely made things harder if it wasn’t. 

Jack climbed into the very back seat among the bags, and Toothless. I just remembered as we heard a yelp and a great hiss from behind us. Jack had sat on Toothless’s tail and picked him up as Toothless tried to scratch Jack’s face. “What is this?” he asked, holding the cat up and away from him as if he were some disgusting science experiment. “Toothless, my pet cat.” I answered,

“Well that’s a serious misnaming right there, Hiccup.” Rapunzel took the cat from Jack and handed it to Astrid for her to look after. Astrid held Toothless and tried to calm him down by patting his head. He really did calm down when she scratched him under the chin, I had to remember that one. “Well, now that’s sorted and everyone’s here, shall we go?” I asked starting up the engine, “Actually, not everyone. can we get Flynn?” Flynn was her boyfriend, as far as I knew.

“Fine,” I groaned, if we kept on just picking everyone up, it would be too late to get out of here.

“Thanks.”

Rapunzel directed us to Flynn’s house. Much to my liking, it was not at all far, only around a couple of corners, but it was a weird neighbourhood, hard to get around, too many alleyways. When we arrived she leapt out of the car with Merida and they ran towards the door. They emerged quicker than expected with Flynn, and climbed into the back. “Hey,” greeted Flynn, sitting down next to Jack and settling in. We were now the definition of a bunch of misfits.

“Hi,” Jack answered, “where are we going _now_ , Hiccup?” he asked,

“The docks,” I answer shortly, I couldn’t think of anywhere better,

“Why?” asked Astrid,

“Best place and we seriously need to get out of the city and everywhere else is the land of the dead.”

“Fine by me,” agreed Jack, I think the others nodded. The Docks it was.


	4. Chapter 4

We drove on, swerving through alleys, avoiding all people. We thought it best to avoid danger at all costs. Jack and Merida wanted to kill some zombies, but everyone else disagreed with the horrible idea. I didn’t like the sound of purposely getting into a fight, it was bound to end very badly.

“So,” began Jack, changing the subject, “how about that dance coming up at school?”

“Oh yeah, I totally forgot about all that and is that really what you want to talk about?” I said,

“Got any better ideas?” Jack asked, it was true that I had forgotten about it. Astrid and I were thinking of going as friends aside from the fact that I didn’t dance. “Besides, I don’t dance, so yeah.”

“Really?” asked Rapunzel,

“No he doesn’t, I’ve seen him try,” Astrid said, letting out a little giggle,

“Astrid, why would you do that?” I groaned, Flynn and Jack were losing it in the back. I think they were trying to picture it.

“So, Rapunzel. Were you planning on going?” asked Jack,

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

The conversation continued, I blocked it out and just focused on driving and trying not to crash. I still wasn’t used to street driving and was getting used to it. We started to see the ocean, big and blue. It was a familiar sight, Dad liked to go fishing a lot. The memory made my head hurt a little. I changed my mind to where the conversation in the car had progressed to. It was better than thinking about what I had left behind and what we may never see again.

Everyone was talking about what they wanted to do after school, it didn’t look like they had many options. I was not an optimist, I was a realist. For fear of getting them down, I just listened not having any input.

we came to a main road, filled with _zombies_ 'oh shit', I murmured under my breath, I could see the others were thinking the same. "Hic, I'm guessing that you need to run these bastards over if we're ever going to get through here," suggested Jack,

"You don't say," I answered, he was right though. If you had to imagine what the height of the zombie apocalypse was like, that was the scene in front of us. Blood was  _everywhere,_ it almost made me sick to the stomach. People were slaughtered right in front of my eyes, I wondered if I was going to have nightmares about all of this. I was so caught up in the moment that I hadn't realised that the walking dead were now coming for  _us._

I slammed on the accelerator. The car ran into the bodies; almost cracking the windows and spraying blood over the paintwork. Dad was _not_ going to be happy, I just hoped he would understand.  I tried to reach for the gear but couldn't. Jack was instructing Merida to plug in his iPod. "Wh-what the hell are you doing?" I exclaimed.

"My friend, the zombie apocalypse not just about trying to survive the end of the world; but terrible music and cheesy hookups." Jack answered, none of us had time to argue (1) none of us were bothered and (2) nothing could be heard over Barbara Streisand blaring over the speakers. I somewhat  _hated_  that song, it was too repetitive. 

We finally reached the car park and got out and collected our things from the boot, while assessing the damage. All I could say was that we didn't need to repaint the car red, it was already done. There was surprisingly few dents though. Astrid handed Toothless to me. He clawed onto my hoodie and sat on my shoulder, he liked to do that. I really didn’t mind it either, I scratched him behind the ear and he purred happily to it, that was what made me happy then.

We need to get out of here, by the way, why don’t you dance?” said Jack, walking ahead of us along the docks, I thought they had dropped the conversation in the car. The sea looked cold with the incoming December weather, we had been lucky this year, I shivered through my hoodie.

“How exactly do you plan on doing that? And I, I just don’t dance, it doesn’t work for me.” I answered,

“Can we _please_ get back to the subject of getting out of here?” asked Astrid.

“Yeah, it’s not like we have a high power, luxury speed boat, is it?” added Merida. Jack skidded to a halt, making us bump into each other. Toothless clawed onto my shoulder even harder, trying not to fall off. Jack looked around, we were in a whole port of boats, and none of the owners were apparently in town. It wasn’t like they were that concerned about their boats at this moment in time. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Astrid,

“Well, I don’t have any better ideas,” I said. They heard a small groan from the distance; we all turned around slowly to see ten zombies, entering the docks and heading for us. A stab of fear hit me in the stomach, “Yeah, doesn’t look like we have a lot of options.” Said Rapunzel, we turned and sprinted for a nearby yacht with three storeys and an outdoor leisure area.

We carefully ran along the boarding plank and spread out along the deck, “Ok, you girls and Flynn stay up here, fight as many as you can off. Hiccup and I will be trying to get this thing moving.” Jack stated, after placing our belongings under the table in the lounge and all weapons had been drawn. The zombies had reached where we were. Merida had her bow at the ready, Astrid had the badass-battle axe and Rapunzel had the gun, they rushed out of the cabin and onto the deck.

Jack and I were fussing around in the driving room. “You said you were good with machines!” Jack shouted, I could hear the slight panic in his voice “I am, I’ve only driven a boat once before and it wasn’t anything like this and I really wasn’t very good.”

“Just switch the damn thing on!”

“Fine!” I yelled. The engine roared to life from below; making the floor vibrate beneath them, I slid the gear into ‘forward’ and they took off. All of a sudden, a burst of loud music came on, _High School Musical_ what kind of people owned this boat anyway?

Much to my horror, the song ‘I don’t dance’ came on: Jack laughed at the irony of the situation and started singing along to Ryan’s parts. “Oh come on,” I sighed, ready to shout. I had had enough.

At that moment, three zombies walked through the door, they must have slipped past the girls; the other outcome was unthinkable. I put Toothless at the other side of the room and told him to stay put, I instinctively picked up the nearby bat and hit the first one in the head, blood spraying _everywhere._ The irony soon became overwhelming.

Jack threw a ball at the other’s head, still singing Ryan’s part. I had no choice but to join in, I finally gave into the pressure. It took my mind off the rhapsody of it all, just little.

The song still kept playing, _‘I don’t dance’_

_‘I know you can’_

_‘Not a chance’_ the first one was soon killed by a collapsed skull from the baseball bat, I turned to see Jack running at the other with a chainsaw. Spraying even _more_ blood on the compartment, red was everywhere, disgusting. There were too many for us, apparently Toothless had realised, with a great noise he leapt up at the zombie before it knew what was happening, “Toothless!” I yelled, the last thing I wanted was for someone to get hurt, especially Toothless.

The cat scratched at the guy’s face, I decided to help by grabbing my knife and stabbing it in the heart, Toothless leapt from the guys face and onto my shoulder and hissed, “Good job Bud,” I said giving him another little pat, he was still tense. The fight was over and we were on our way out of here to safety. The song finally ended after it took a beating to the media console from both the chainsaw and bat. I ran for the wheel and steered the yacht back on course. A moment later, the girls and Eugene walked in, also stained with blood. “Well that was, interesting.” Said Merida, I was relieved that they were all alright

“Where did you get a chainsaw?” I asked from the steering wheel,

“It was under the sofa over there.”

“Of course it was.”


	5. Chapter 5

It was just about dark by now, the clock read 6:00pm, it had felt longer than that given all that had happened. It was the quickest two and a half hours of my life. We spent the next few hours exploring the boat, it was amazing. There were bedrooms with ensuites and a small library upstairs. How would anyone afford this? I wondered. “Hey guys, there’s big plasma TV over here!” said Jack, he was right and big was a tragic understatement, it was freaking enormous.

“Holy crap, no wonder we didn’t notice it before, it’s the size of the freaking wall.” I exclaimed.

“It’s a Barney Stinson TV!” cheered Jack,

“Is there anything actually interesting on it?” asked Merida, slumping down on the couch, I found the remote and turned it on, the light was blinding. There was every movie you could imagine, not to mention a treasure trove of TV series. I could spend an eternity here.

Everyone chose to watch Star Trek, (1) those who hadn’t seen it were interested and (2) the second movie was just amazing. Rapunzel didn’t seem too keen on the other hand. I had put the boat on auto pilot and had to get back to it. “I’ll just be driving,” I announced, getting up to head to the steering wheel. “I’ll come,” added Astrid, getting up to follow me, I picked up Toothless and put him on my shoulder again, “Don’t have too much fun, will you?” shouted Flynn, Astrid sneered in response.

“Where shall we go now? I mean where is there for us?” asked Astrid, sitting down with Toothless and gently patting him.

“I’m not sure, we’ll come across a town sooner or later, we can stock up and I can make some modifications on the engine if I’m lucky.” I checked the fuel gauge, it was just under half empty. Brilliant. “And we better do it soon,” I added. We could hear the movie playing from the lounge, I had seen it a million times, but it never got old for me. The others sounded like they were enjoying it Jack, Merida and Eugene all cheered for Kirk in the fights, even though he lost like every one of them. But I wasn’t going to ruin the experience for them. We heard an overwhelming ‘AWWWW’ come from the lounge as Kirk had lost his first fight, I held back a laugh. I could see Astrid was trying to not laugh too.

This carried on for the next few hours as the fuel gauge went lower and lower I got more restless. It had gotten so dark that I had to put the spotlights so we could see ahead of the boat. I had to fix a couple of short circuits after finding some tools in the engine room. Toothless helped me with that, I was actually making progress training him; he held the torch steady for me as I worked. When I had finished, I scratched him behind the ear and he licked my hand affectionately.  
 I was hungry, I could see Toothless was too. “Hey Astrid,” I started, walking into the steering room, “do you know if there’s anything to eat?”  
“I’m not sure, I just realised how hungry I am come to speak of it.”

We found a fridge stacked with cokes and chocolate, just our luck there was some fish and chicken in the freezer. I gave the fish to Toothless, he was so happy to see it and no one else wanted it. We had a feast of chocolate as we floated on over the sea.

For one moment everything was perfect I was sitting with two of my best friends in the entire world, eating one of my favourite foods and listening to Star Trek and more friends in the next room. I laid my head back on the sofa, closed my tired eyes and enjoyed the moment. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Astrid was shaking me.

At first I was startled, for some impossible reason I thought maybe we were under attack again. I clutched my knife and tensed. “Hey, its’ ok,” she said, “there’s a cove in the distance, we should be there soon.”

“Ok, thanks,” I said, getting up. Feeling a twinge of embarrassment. I quickly dismissed it.

Much to my relief, Astrid was right and we did come by a country town on the coast. Not that I ever doubted her. Hopefully they hadn’t been hit by the mayhem yet. We drove into the small dock that was lit by a couple of lampposts. I could see the looks on the people’s faces when the boat arrived, like we were royalty. For the first time in my life, I felt like a boss.

As we arrived, the others were on the front deck standing like statues and waving to the crowd regally. Like self-important bastards, luckily they did it with overwhelming sarcasm. The crowd laughed and clapped for them, we did too. It was a relief to actually laugh after today. An entrance like this was probably very unusual at 10:00 at night. Scratch that, it was downright weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait (if you were waiting) i have been SUPER busy, anyway here it is. i was looking for some extra plot, so i decided to introduce elsa and anna, and of course there will be jelsa, why not? 
> 
> i hope you enjoyed it : )


	6. Chapter 6

We stepped off of the boat and walked along the small dock, a man came up to us, he wore a cheap grey work shirt that matched his hair, and had a few hairs emerging from his chin, he hadn’t shaved in a while, he had a half burnt cigarette in his mouth. He reeked of smoke. “I guess there’s no point in asking if you have a license given the circumstances.” He said in a deep and croaky voice.

“I guess not,” answered Jack, he offered to do the speaking for us, I certainly didn’t feel like it. As much as my dad had encouraged it, I hated leading people. It was just too much pressure.

 

“You’re lucky we’re nice here in this town,” he said, giving us a surprisingly welcoming grin. “Welcome to the Cove of Arendelle.” He said,

“Thank you very much, Sir,” said Jack happily, shaking his hand. “These are my friends, this is Hiccup, Astrid, Rapunzel, Eugene and Merida.”

“Pleased to meet ya’, I am Aster.” He said, shaking our hands, they were rough and soft at the same time. “Interesting names, but names none the less. Is there anything you kids need?” he asked,

“Hiccup should be able to answer that.” Said Jack, pushing me forward to talk to Aster, I hated talking to new people.

“Um, yeah. First we need some food, anything will do and we need some tools for repairs.” I stuttered a little. The situation occurred to me, six kids turn up late at night in a million dollar boat, one carrying a knife and an unstable cat, another with a saucepan (I convinced the others to leave their stuff in the cabin to be safe), all have blood stained clothes. For all these people knew, we were murderers.

“Wait,” said a female voice from behind Aster, she stepped out into the light; she had platinum blonde hair and wore a blue knit sweater. Colour flushed into Jack’s face, it was unusual I tried not to laugh. “Why exactly are you here?” she asked,

“Ummmm,” Jack stammered, I took over,

“A disease broke out recently, how do I put this?” I pause, “as crazy as it sounds, it’s basically the zombie apocalypse. I know it sounds like a load of shit, but it’s the truth.” The girl stared at me a cold hard expression, it made me want to shrink into the shadows.

“So I’ve heard,” she said shortly, “no offence but you don’t seem like the kind to murder people,”

“None taken.”

“I’m Elsa, the mayor’s daughter.” She held out a hand to shake, Jack was the first to take it as he pushed in front of me, knocking me to one side.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, ma’am. I’m Jack,”

“Right," she replied uncomfortably. "Anyway we can let you stay here for a while with everything you need, free of charge. You lot look like you’ve been through quite a bit.” We needed food soft bed and a shower. They sounded like the best things in the world right now.


	7. Chapter 7

Elsa’s house was cold, comfortable, but cold. It was big enough to house all of us and her family, which wasn’t very big. It she just had her mother, father and sister called Anna. I liked her, she was happy and quite funny. I could see her getting along with Rapunzel quite well.

Jack didn’t seem to have a problem with it at all, the only thing seeming to be keeping him from feeling at home was Elsa. He seemed so nervous around her, I began to feel sorry for the guy. I was busy keeping Toothless under control, he really didn’t like the cool and kept trying to snuggle inside my sweater. It was getting annoying.

I was expecting the house to be smaller, so I wasn’t surprised when Elsa and Anna told us that we may be sharing a room with at least one person, Astrid and I were sharing. Same went for Flynn and Rapunzel. Much to the relief of everyone, Jack and Merida were separate. Since they didn’t get along all too well, which had to change. But tonight wasn’t the night for it.                  

After cleaning up, we went downstairs to find that Anna had made us all a hot chocolate, they were so delicious. I think I had three rounds, whoops. To Jack’s disappointment Elsa had gone to bed after introducing us and giving the group a house tour. Apparently she had had a long day, we all had.

“So what exactly happened to you lot? I know, there’s this massive contagion going around. But what was it like?” Anna asked,

“Well,” began Jack, putting his barely sipped hot chocolate on the table (which I think he was leaving to cool) “you’re right about all that, have you ever seen ‘Shaun of the Dead’?” Anna shook her head,

“Great movie,” interjected Flynn,

“Ugh, I hate it. It’s so bloody, but I like the characters though all up Warm Bodies is my favourite,” commented Rapunzel “Why exactly did you make me watch it Shaun of the Dead?”

“Because it’s good,” argued Jack,

“I love that movie! But personally, I prefer Zombieland,” I added, wanting to have some input on the conversation.

“I second that,” said Astrid.

“World War Z?” suggested Merida,

“Merida, I hate to break this to ya. But that’s not funny, proper zombie movies are hilarious, World War Z is just scary.”

“Och, fine then,” Merida slumped down back into her seat and gulped down some more hot chocolate.

“So, I’m guessing what you’re saying is that it’s basically the zombie apocalypse.” Said Anna,

“Yep,” I tried to say it as carefully as I could, to soften the blow a little bit.

I looked at the time on the oven and well shit, it was about 1 o’clock in the morning and I had no idea how I was still awake after such a long day. Even Toothless was awake and he liked his sleep. “I think we should all go to bed,” I suggested when I noticed that everyone was starting to yawn. They nodded clumsily in agreement.

 Astrid and I padded our way down the hallway to what was our room, I was glad that we had all remembered to take some spare clothes and pyjamas in our packs in the panic. When I slumped down onto bed, Toothless curled up in between us. It hit me, all my friends from school, maybe even my dad my only family and Gobber,my dad's friend. Were probably dead. “Astrid?” I whisper,

“Yes?” she answered. I paused, I didn’t know how to say this. I just realised that I had paused for a while, thinking about how to bring it up, “Are you OK, Hiccup?”

“My Dad probably died today,”

“I know. I didn’t tell you this, but my parents flew out of the country today. I guess I didn’t get a chance to. I hope they’re safe, what’s going to happen next?”

“I have no idea, I’m so sorry.” I say, tears swelling up in my eyes.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, this isn’t your fault.”

“I know, I just feel sorry that all of this happened.”

I felt Astrid move Toothless out of the way, as she curled up next to me. Hugging me as if I were standing and looking away from her and all she could do was wrap her arms around my waist. She pressed her face into my back, I became aware that she was also crying as I could feel the moisture from the tears through my shirt. Toothless much to my happiness, came over to me and squeezed himself into my arms, I think he wanted a hug too.

He and Astrid were the closest thing to family I had left, well, them and the others. I held them close. The cold house was now warm as I let sleep shut me down until I could bear to wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update (if you were in fact waiting). i was SUPER busy with exams, then interstate, then a holiday program and then even more work to do... YAY
> 
> any way, i hope you enjoyed it.. i tried to include some more hiccstrid and there will be more jelsa and hopefully character development as they move on and survive what is the apocalypse.
> 
> thank you for the feedback, i didn't think anyone would actually want me to update, so that was really nice!
> 
> 'til next time! DFTBA (dont forget to be awesome!)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please don't kill me

We woke the next morning to Jack yelling in the next room, I fell out of bed onto the cold hard floor. A perfect way to start the day, just perfect. I clumsily ran to Jack’s room to find that Toothless had snuck in during the night and had given Jack the scare of his life. It was quite a sight. Toothless sat in the middle of the huge bed proudly while Jack was standing at the other side of the room, a mixed expression of shock and annoyance plastered on his face.

“Hiccup!” he exclaimed, storming towards me, “Seriously, if you weren’t such a nice guy, this useless fur ball would have been strangled.” Toothless hissed in response and Jack mimicked him, the cat was ready to pounce. What was the problem with these two?

We noticed everyone at the doorway, even Elsa. Jack looked mortified, the small amount of colour in his face drained. I sighed and said “I’m sorry, I’ll close the door tomorrow night.” I went over to pick up Toothless, who was still tense. I could feel him turn to glare at Jack as we left the room. I made my way back into Astrid and I’s room and slammed the door where we could be alone.

I thumped him down onto the bed, “What is wrong with you, Bud? You’ve never acted like this to anyone before.” I shouted. Toothless stared at me guiltily. “What has Jack done? Hmmm?” it then occurred to me that maybe he liked Jack and wanted to be friends, it was just that Jack didn’t have the same idea in mind. Anyway, Toothless did have a weird way of showing that he wanted to be a friend this time around. Maybe it was the way Jack had responded to him in the back seat of the car, wanting to get to know him.

“I’m sorry, Bud.” I say, sitting down next to him, “Just maybe lay off for a bit and Jack might be less rough, OK?” I took a little nibble on the ear as a ‘yes’. After putting him in my hood, I walked down to breakfast. Everyone was discussing the safety of everyone in the town and if anyone was at risk.

“Well, our parents just came back last night,” began Anna, “they went to bed really early because of a splintering headache then left early this morning. Could that be a problem?”

“I dunno,” said Jack, “Is a headache a symptom of you know?”

“It was in Shaun of the Dead,” said Flynn,

“Very helpful,” commented Rapunzel,

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Maybe we should check the town, just in case.” Suggested Merida,

“She’s right,” replied Astrid, taking the words out of my mouth. Everyone nodded. There was a ding from the oven, Rapunzel leapt up “Croissants are ready!” she cheered, grabbing some oven mitts and pulling out a tray of delicious smelling pastries. Anna helped bring out the jam and cream accompanied with even more hot chocolate.

“Well how about after eating and freshening up, we all go down there and see if anything’s wrong?” suggested Elsa,

“Sounds good,” Jack said. We helped ourselves to the food, which was perfect. But I could see that everyone was feeling the same way as me and Astrid. Worried about their families and wondering if they were all OK. It was in their eyes and their tone of voice. We were probably all at the breaking point, ready to snap.

About half an hour later we were in town, and wrong was an almost prefect description. It was like home, filled with zombies. Who and what had spread it? I wondered, I think everyone did. Elsa and Anna had taken some rifles from their ‘secret safe’ and we all had our equipment from the day before. Mine being a knife and cat, handier than you think.

Those who were still alive, probably were in hiding or fleeing. When the dead saw us, they ran. Those who were shooting wiped half of them out. We were lucky that it was a small town. I was tasked with car duties with Toothless. I found a diamond bladed chainsaw in the back of a pickup truck. Perfect.

I started the engine with some keys that were amazingly left in the ignition. Kesha blared on the stereos. Why Kesha? And most of all why ‘Die Young’ of all songs? I looked up to see that there were about three zombies that had left the others and started coming for me. Shit.

The chainsaw was heavy, I heaved it up and started it. Just in time as I sliced a head off. I wanted to puke, but there wasn’t any time to before I ran the other two through. I wondered why there had to be so much blood. Two sets of my clothes where now almost completely stained with red.

There were too many, I felt sorry for Elsa and Anna. They probably knew most of these people and now they were dead. I ran back into the car and headed for an oncoming pack. Optimistically this was all that was left. Astrid was yelling in the distance, probably trying to stop me from driving straight into a dangerous bunch of contagious parasites. I pressed my foot onto the gas and drove straight over maybe ten zombies, then doing a swerve to wipe out the last few.

I met everyone in a group hug just near the car. They had gotten all of the rest. What puzzled me was that some were frozen and then sliced. “What happened?” I ask interrupting a laughing fit,

“Elsa! She’s amazing!” exclaimed Jack, “She just shot all of this ice at that with her bare hands!”

“I’m sorry,” she said, sounding a little happy or just relieved. “I try not to do that, it was a last resort in blind panic.”

“I’m not even going to question it,” I say, “I’m just happy we’re all alive.”

And it was true. No major injuries or bites, miraculously. But where was Toothless? I looked around in hot panic. We were too distracted by a team hug to notice another five zombies. “Oh come on,” I say,

“How could we miss them?” asked Merida, but there was no time to answer.

Astrid ran to the light post with my chainsaw and started to cut it down, so it could fall on the zombies. Which was clever and worked for about three of them. We were split in two, one zombie each and we were all out of ammo. Astrid took out the other one with her axe, while I was distracted watching her. Ours grabbed my left leg, I was so panicked I didn’t have time to scream.

It dragged me down and the pavement was awful to fall onto, I clawed at it. Tears in my eyes as I tried to scramble away. I heard a massive explosion and then some building fragments and boulder like concrete slabs fell everywhere. An unbearable pain spread from the leg that was grabbed.

My mind went blank with the shock. I heard shouting all around me, I couldn’t make sense of it all. Everything faded to black, the question ‘where is Toothless?’ filled my mind when even that thought drifted away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it was in the name of character development ok? 
> 
> he will be back (no spoilers)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so sorry, this chapter was really hard for me to write. it being mostly conversation, i spent so much time stressing and trying to fix it up as best i could. bit of a downer to be honest, i may still edit it some more, i just wanted to get it out of the way so it could all develop. i hope you still would want to read the fic after this load of well.. fic

The pain was all I could think about, I didn’t exactly like it either. It was blinding and made almost everything else numb. I tried to open my eyes to see where I was and what happened, but I just couldn’t. If the other had given me a local anaesthetic to knock me out, I wasn’t sure if I was happy about it or mad and should clonk some heads if I ever came around.

I fell in and out of a deep sleep, sometimes being able to hear people talking around me. But they sounded as if they were at the end of a tunnel and distorted. I thought I heard Jack and Astrid at one point, but I wasn’t too sure. But that was until one time I almost woke up.

I was sure that Astrid in the room, I could feel her sitting on the edge of the bed. I wanted nothing more than to pull a Lazarus and spring up and go “I’m not dead!” but it just didn’t work that way. It was pure shit.

Even though I couldn’t leap out and give her a hug, I think I felt my arm twitch at one point. Astrid must have noticed because the next moment she was hugging me and it hurt. “Stop it! That hurts!” I wanted to yell, but obviously she didn’t. When she finally put me back down, everything ached. But not my foot, the one the zombie grabbed. The leg was something else entirely, it felt like it was exploding, numbing everything else. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to know what happened to me or if I wanted to know.

I heard her yell “Guys, get in here! He’s probably waking up!” I wished I could agree, I was more worried about everyone in the room while I was just lying there. It made me a little self-conscious. I heard them all come in, but there was silence. “Astrid,” Elsa said, “I’m so sorry but he doesn’t look any different. He may not have much longer left. Please get some rest, you look tired.”

What were they talking about? I was fine, I mean yeah I was injured but how bad could it be? I guess I just didn’t know the entire situation here.

I heard everyone leave the room. Astrid still stayed; I wanted to hug her. I couldn’t think about it much longer because I had used too much energy listening to everyone and just drifted back off.

When I opened my eyes, the light was blinding, it seemed to be morning as far as I knew. It took a while for my eyes to focus. I was back in my room in Elsa and Anna’s house. Before I could properly focus on anything, Astrid was on me. “You’re awake!” she cheered, still squeezing the breath out of my lungs “I can’t believe it,”

“Astrid, you’re suffocating me.” I croak, my throat felt like it was full of peanut butter and glass.

“Oh, sorry,” she suddenly released, leaving me gasping. Every breath felt like I was being stabbed, luckily it was easing off. Astrid’s blond braid was dishevelled, like she hadn’t taken care of it at all and there were bags under her eyes, they still looked slightly scared.

“Here, have a glass of water,” she said shakily, I took it,

“What happened?” I asked, “How long was I out? What time is it?”

“Whoa, whoa. You need to calm down, Hiccup. You were out for about three days and it’s about 9:30 in the morning. As for what happened-“ she stopped, “I’m sorry, Hiccup.”

“Why? What is it?” she didn’t answer, she just glanced at where my feet were.

'I may as well get it over with’ I thought as I slowly pulled it back. My stomach dropped as soon as I saw it, I just wanted to curl up and go back to sleep. My left foot was gone, the leg stopped a little below the knee. The new stump, was wrapped in stark white bandages. I don’t know how long I stared at it, but the longer I did, more tears welled up in my eyes. Almost to the point where I couldn’t see. It explained the cold, stinging pain that was developing.

I just sighed. At least I wasn’t dead or worse, a zombie. “There was nothing we could do,” Astrid said quietly. I had almost forgotten that she was there. “The thing had you and we were just about to help when the building next to us just exploded. A boulder flew at you and the zombie. It killed it, but it had also landed on your leg.”

"It’s ok.” I murmur, “Do you know what caused the flipping building to explode?”

“Nope, we just had to get out of there before another one decided to let itself go.”

“Good decision,” I agree, suddenly the thought came to me. “I know it’s really early, but is there anything available in the way of prosthetics. I won’t last long without being able to walk or even run.” I knew it was a little self-focused but in the grand scheme of things, I hoped it was justified. Astrid looked like she understood.

“We tried the hospital but it was shut down, too many people. Everything has gotten worse, people are relying on the authorities and the authorities have no idea how to manage this sort of disaster. We all went up there with you, but there was nothing so we had to come back here. The house is apparently a safe house for those who need it in the area, they have everything here. From medicine to weapons. Amazingly, we scored some crutches for you,”

“Thanks,” I say “I appreciate it.”

“As for prosthetics, the only option at the moment is to build one, which none of us can really do. Well, except for you. Elsa froze up a temporary one.”

“Oh, that’s really nice of her. I’ll have to thank her later.” I said, maybe in the long term building my own leg could be a good thing. I could get everything the way I wanted it. Could be useful in storing something like a little knife, just in case.

“Where’s Toothless?” the question had been on my mind the entire time, I just had to ask. “How is everyone?” I added.

“They were all really worried, still in bed though. They have been busy trying to get supplies together and get to the radio, to see if anyone is out there. We couldn’t figure out the bloody thing.”

“I could try and fix it, what else can I do for a while?”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, you know I like to fix things.”

“Well until then, do you want some food?” she suggested, realising just how hungry I was I nodded.

“Can I get out of this bed?” I ask, “You know, three days lying here.”

“If you can manage it,” she said, picking up the crutches from the corner of the room.

I sat on the edge of the bed, one foot on the ground. It was so weird, it was like the other was completely numb, but I could still sense it there. Like a ghost leg. I hopped up and shifted into the support. I had never needed crutches before and they were fun for the first five seconds. The idea of a frozen temporary leg seemed like a good way to go at the moment.

We slowly but surely made our way to the kitchen. It was excruciating Astrid served up some leftover burger for me and told me to eat it slowly which I did, “Here are some painkillers, as well.” She said, handing me a plastic jar of pills.

“Thanks.” I say, taking two. It was seemingly the recommended dose.  “Does it hurt?” she asked

“Yeah, it feels cold and hot at the same time. It just stings and aches, it’s hard to describe.”

“Maybe try not to focus on it and don’t beat yourself up.”

“Good idea.”

“And if you need any help, don’t be afraid to ask.”

“Yeah.” I sigh,

“What is it?”

“I just don’t want to be a burden.”

“Well isn’t that being part of a group? We rely on each other, you know like how we stop Jack from destroying something.”

“I heard talking,” said Jack’s voice from the hallway, I turned to see him standing there in his pyjamas and rubbing his eye.

“Hiccup, darling, you’re awake!” he ran over to hug me, his affection was interesting.

“Darling?” I ask,

“Just joking,” Jack laughed, Astrid looked unamused.

“Well since there’s someone else here to help the little darling, I think I can finally go to bed.” She said, finishing her hot drink. “Sleep well!” called Jack.

“She didn’t answer my question,” I mumble, watching her close the door.

“What?” asked Jack, settling down to some of his own left overs. The perfect breakfast, sometimes you need a burger first thing in the morning.

“I asked her if she knows what happened to Toothless. Do you know?”

“Ummm,” Jack looked uncomfortable. I was getting a little tired of people not wanting to just tell me these things straight out, either way I was going to find out sometime.

“I’m prepared for more bad news, I’ve already had a hell of a day. You don’t lose a leg often do you? It can only happen twice,” we laughed. It hurt but it felt good to laugh after a while even a little bit, I needed that. “We don’t know about Toothless, but he saved me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, while you were running over the zombies and saving our lives. Toothless attacked one that was sneaking up on me. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him,”

“Well that’s good,” my response hung in the air.

“We’ll find him,” Jack said after a pause. “He can’t have gone far. And I’m sorry about the way I treated him,”

“It’s ok, I told him to back off. I think he just wanted to be friends.”

“I know that now, that makes me regret the fact that I couldn’t help him and treated him like a fur ball in the first place.” We paused, I didn’t know what to do. I just felt helpless, I couldn’t do anything. Except sit here.

“Well, on a different note. Did Astrid tell you that Elsa made you a leg?” asked Jack, it seemed to be the only news that mattered. “Yeah, I really want to rush into her room and hug but that might be a little hard.”

“It’s probably best to wait, she’s someone you don’t want to pressure.”

“How do you know?” I stopped, realising I was talking to Jack. “What did you do?”

“Well, I may have asked her out…” as soon as Jack had said it, I couldn’t help myself. I just lost it and laughed even harder than before, god it hurt. I was still waiting for the painkillers to kick in.

“Oh my god, what happened?”

“Well you know I asked her out for a coffee, she didn’t take it too well and said that there weren’t any coffee shops open in the general area.”

“Then?” I ask, getting really interested.

“I just asked if we could just get to know each other or something, she just wanted to be friends with anyone for a while before considering you know.”

“So she doesn’t seem like the relationship type. Don’t worry you’ll win her over, just you wait.”

“How on earth am I supposed to do that?” it occurred to me that Jack Frost himself was asking _me_ of all people for advice and on relationships. Why wasn’t he asking Eugene? Or maybe he had already taken Flynn’s advice.  

“Well the best way to win over the girl who is way out of your league is…” Jack leaned forward, an eager expression on his face. “Yes?” he asked

“Haddock charm, my friend!” I proclaim, patting him on the shoulder.

“Haddock charm?”

“Yes, the true you, the inner dork.”

“I’ll try it,” Jack said with a hopeful smile, he was trying to act cool this entire time. Everyone could see it.

“Just, you know. Back off for a bit.” I suggested, Jack nodded.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait (if you were waiting) but anyway here it is!

Later, everyone was up. Elsa showed me how to put on the temporary leg. It was surprisingly comfortable and somewhat numbed the pain in the stump a little way below the knee. I spent the rest of the day re-learning how to walk. It was hard.

It was like walking with a completely numb foot, I had done it before after sitting on the ground with crossed legs for a long time. I tried to be optimistic, but there really wasn’t an upside to the situation. No matter how hard I looked for one. The pain was dimmed by the cold of the leg, so that was something.

But I was still alive.

I kept wondering about Toothless and where he might be. At some points, I would get so worked up about it and forget to focus on keeping my balance. Then, I’d find myself kneeling on the floor. I started falling so often, I wouldn’t let anyone help me back up. They had spent the first half hour trying to help but one by one they left, not because they didn’t care. But they didn’t feel like they could help.

I had to do it alone, I had to walk and find Toothless.

I began to get a hang of it a couple of hours later. By that point, I was exhausted and I had bruises on my knees and hands. I was aching all over. I stumbled into bed and instantly fell asleep. That wasn’t much better, I had nightmares.

They were so vivid, they just consisted of us being hunted, what might have happened to Toothless, to Dad. I woke in a cold sweat to the sound of Jack screaming. Astrid was awake too, alarm plastered on her face. She leapt out of bed, I followed. The leg was thankfully still attached, I fell over almost immediately. Astrid helped me up and we stumbled into Jack’s room.

Everyone was there, Rapunzel had her hand on his forehead. Flynn and Merida looked the most confused out of everyone, Elsa and Anna were rushing around trying to get the medicine since they knew where everything was.

Jack looked worse than when he had the immunisation, there was almost no colour left in him. He was trying to sit up in the bed, Rapunzel wouldn’t let him. “What happened?” I ask suddenly finding the words. “We don’t know,” said Elsa, passing me in a hurry. “He just woke up in a state of shock and now he’s as cold as ice and can’t breathe properly.”

We stood there as Jack drifted off even more, I wasn’t even sure that he noticed us there. We decided to leave and let Rapunzel and Anna try and help him. We sat in the lounge on the couches, all huddled in rugs and dressing gowns. Every one drifted off to sleep. Except me, I just couldn’t do it. They say that sleep is the best way to fight being depressed, but it’s just putting off the fight. And I didn’t want to put it off anymore.

I slowly made my way to the garage to where the radio was. It was really beaten up. I sat down at the bench in the lamp-lit corner and got to work. I began by fixing the wires with a soldering iron I found nearby and tried to find a signal. I adjusted the knobs and antennas until the static morphed into sense. That was what I liked about fixing things, making sense of the static.

I kept adjusting the radio until I heard a voice, it was the military. They must have set up their own radio frequency. I hurriedly put on the headphones so I could hear it better. The more the signal came through, the more the voice was familiar. I couldn’t put my finger on it until it was almost clear. “ _I repeat, anyone who gets this message needs to report to the Minnesota Naval Base by the 25 th of December. I repeat, anyone…” _the voice trailed on, it was obviously a recording. But it was my Dad, he was probably alive. Tears filled my eyes as I listened to his voice, it kept going. The same message. I closed them, savouring the moment.

I didn’t know how long I was listening I might have fallen asleep but then it changed “ _Hiccup, if you’re out there.”_ it said _“if you’re still alive, I want you to know that I understand why you left. I am so proud of you for taking charge and not waiting for me, your mother would be proud too.”_ my eyes snapped open, I wasn’t dreaming. I was just sitting there with my eyes closed.

The message returned to the usual one, asking people to report to the base the personal message was obviously part of the loop. I didn’t know how long it would be until it came back around.

“Guys!” I yelled, “Get down here!” I heard them hurry down the stairs, everyone except Jack and Elsa. “What is it?” asked Merida,

“You’ll see,” I pulled out the headphones and let the message play. Everyone’s tired expressions changed to anticipation. “Good job fixing the radio, bro,” said Flynn, patting me on the back

“Thanks,” I mutter.

“So what do you think we should do?” asked Astrid, they were all staring at me. Awaiting my answer.

“Umm,” I pause, why were they asking me? “We need to get going, I suppose. Gather all the supplies we can, find some cars. What about Jack?”

“Oh, yeah about that… We don’t know yet,” said Anna quietly.

“Well let’s go check,” I say, following the others to his room.

               


	11. Chapter 11

I was the last to arrive at Jack’s room, unsurprisingly, but the concept of having a fake leg was becoming more bearable. The pain of the injury had gone away so fast, I didn't think I'd need the drugs anymore.

Jack looked better, when we got there he and Elsa were having more hot chocolate. They seemed to never run out of the stuff, not that anyone had a problem with it, “Well you’re looking alright, but how are you feeling?” asked Merida,

“Fanfuckingtastic.” said Jack, his voice was rather quiet.

“Fit to travel?” I ask,

“If I’m just sitting there, then yes. Probably, why?”

“Well we just got the radio working again and there’s a military base for anyone who can get there. They have supplies and reinforcements.”

“Then of course I am!” said Jack, “When are you guys planning we leave?” he had a point,

“When can we leave?” I asked Elsa and Anna,

“Well we need to pack the trucks up, fix your leg if you want or can do some driving,” began Anna, “also get all the food and weapons we can, medicine.” She was getting worked up as she spoke, and started flapping her hands about. Rapunzel calmed her down by patting her on the shoulder. “How long should we have?” she asked

“Until tomorrow night?” suggested Merida. “It’s going to take a week to get there and we need to arrive by the 25th of December, that’s four weeks away.” It suddenly hit me how close Christmas was, and how cold it was getting. “Well we better get to work then, we’ll need two 4-wheel drives.”

“We can get them from town,” said Flynn hugging Merida’s shoulder, she pushed him off.

“Fine, we’ll do that this afternoon.”

“While we’ll get everything together. Hiccup, you can fix up the cars in the garage.” Said Astrid, they were avoiding to get me to do anything that involved a lot of walking and they were also trying not to talk about my leg. “Sure thing,” I agreed after a brief hesitation. after we all left the room, Elsa pulled me to one side, it was the first time she had really spoken to me, "Do you know of any medical problems Jack had before all this. I waited for a moment then remembered, "Well he did have a bad reaction to the immunisations we had to have the day all this started."

"What kind of reaction?"

"well, he was really weak for some reason and he went just as pale as the other night. wait, you think there might be something to do with that?" Elsa looked a little half-hearted, "I don't know, we just need to keep our eyes open. Do you know of anything else? Like his hair? Why it's grey? It's not normal, what would cause that?" 

"No, no one really does know a lot about Jack. You know, he's him and that's all that mattered to people." Elsa nodded, we were both thinking the same thing; keep a careful eye and hope for the best. 

There was barely a moment of rest other than lunch and dinner, Anna went around serving snacks for the majority of the afternoon.

Merida and Flynn had found two four-wheel drives, one was a Cruzer like the one we had back home and the other was a BMW luxury. “Do you really think everyone in the town is a zombie or dead?” I asked Merida as they drove the cars into the garage, “I dunno, hiccup. Maybe they got out early in the morning before you know.” I was getting sick of them treating me like a child or something, they just kept their distance. It was beginning to feel lonely, even Astrid was doing it.

“Is something wrong?” she asked,

“It’s nothing,” I say almost like a reflex. That was what scared me.

“Well it must be something if you’re always looking thoughtful and not talking much. You look sad, when you don’t think people can see you.” She was right, but I really didn’t want to talk about it. I looked at the ground, and shifted nervously. After a brief moment I felt her hand on my shoulder, I looked up. “We’ve all been through a lot, we’re all worried about our families. We all know you’ve probably gone through the most. Don’t worry about being a burden, that’s a part of being a group, we’re all friends here. We help each other carry one another’s weight. “Thank you,” I mumble, managing a small smile. Merida wasn’t one for hugging much so a hand on the shoulder meant a lot.

“Are you ok?” I ask her,

“I’m grand, I mean yeah I’m a little worried but you know my folks. They can survive through anything, they’ll get through.”

“What about everyone else?” Merida’s expression darkened,

“Jack and Eugene aren’t that worried, being orphans they don’t have much to worry about. Elsa and Anna are coping, just and trying to keep busy but they’re glad to have us here. Rapunzel hasn’t said anything, I think she’s just trying to stay focussed. I don’t know about her really. Astrid is a little worried but like me, she has faith in what her folks can do.”

“Thanks, I haven’t really been able to ask anyone.”

“They get it, don’t worry. And they’re really happy that your dad at least is alive, since you’ve lost the most.” I remembered Toothless, and held back the tears that burnt my eyes so badly. “I should get some work done.” I needed a distraction.

“Sure thing,” she said, straightening up and leaving the garage, looking back at me as she left. I spent the rest of the day fixing the cars; checking their engines, cleaning them and making room for supplies. I went to bed after our obscenely late dinner at 1:30 in the morning.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry again for the wait (again) it's a little bit of an uneventful chapter again, but kinda necessary. next one is sure to be more interesting... holidays are next week so i will be uploading
> 
> sorry for any typos.. i was in a bit of a hurry


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning I woke up to Jack shaking me, a speedy recovery on his behalf. “Hey, dude. Wake the fuck up.”

“What the fuck is it, Jack?” I say, groggily I was pissed whenever someone woke me up. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, realising Astrid had already left. “We decided to get some new clothes from town before we leave this afternoon, get up.” I looked at my clothes, which once were grey hiking pants and a hoodie but were now holed and full of stains and quite frankly smelt, it was those and my worn out PJ’s, which were also past their due date. It was the same for everyone else too, well except Elsa and Anna’s. We had begun not to notice it.

“Fine,” I sigh, sitting up. Jack left the room so I could get dressed. I had my first attempt at driving with a fake leg on the way to town, I was lucky to get the automatic, so I only had to use the right foot. So things went rather well.

We all went into the clothes shops, not having to pay was a distinct advantage. Jack found another blue hoodie, he seemed to love them. Flynn was getting Rapunzel to pick out his clothes, after she found some jeans, an assortment tank tops and a cardigan. Merida, went straight for the punk-ish clothes, where she found some tight black jeans, a dark blue top and leather jacket, it rather suited her. Astrid did the exact same but was less conservative by finding some bulky spiked boots with jeans and red hoodie. I found another green hoodie, I loved them more baggy pants and high-top doc. Martens which actually felt like heaven. I only needed one shoe, so I decided to get a good one.

We decided to get a snow jacket each since it was going to be freezing the Minnesota. Plus it was getting to be cold enough to wear one anyway. We spent some time in the outdoor adventure store I found a black and red one in the corner, it was a little big I hoped I’d grow into it sooner or later. Everyone found one in their favourite colours and fitted better than mine.

Once we had all filled a rucksack each with our new and clean clothes, we went back to the house. Elsa and Anna had already packed their bags and were starting to load things into one of the cars (we had taken the other). “Hey guys!” waved Anna as we drove in. “looks like you got what you needed.”

“Yep! We’re all set.” Said Jack, “how about some lunch, then finish packing then set off?”

“Sounds good,” agreed Astrid. We did as planned, ate some sandwiches and then packed we were ready earlier than expected. We all made sure we had everything and then left with the cars packed, boots full of bags, medicine and food. Under the seats were the guns and knives we could fit. Flynn, Rapunzel, Merida and Anna were all in the BMW with the majority of food since it was the slightly bigger boot. That means I was with Astrid, Jack and Elsa which wasn’t too bad. I had taught Merida how to drive once, so with a bit of a shaky start, we were off.

I drove the car with my knife next to me, just in case. It felt so different without Toothless but I couldn’t afford to think about that. We kept close to one another for hours, talking to one another on the radios I fixed and installed which worked surprisingly well. Until we got bored of I spy.

When night came we had decided to sleep sitting in the cars, taking turns to drive throughout the night. I wasn’t a preferable way to learn but I worked, more or less. Jack was so shaky he nearly went into a tree, I took his place after about two minutes of absolute terror. The fuel was also running low so we cautiously stopped at a gas station and took turns in the bathroom. While I was filling the Cruzer I heard yelling just before I saw a zombie running straight for me from behind the building.

“SHIT!” I instinctively yelled and (somewhat) accidentally, pulled out the petrol hose and sprayed it. Realising what I was doing, Merida struck a match she found on the ground and set it alight. It was rank, nothing like zombie roast. Astrid joined in as I started running away, well what you can call ‘running’ while getting used to a fake leg. Away from the station, not wanting to cause another explosion she sliced its’ head off with her axe and it fell to the ground, leaving nothing but a burning zombie corpse on the iced over concrete. It was a miracle I hadn’t fallen, maybe the leg made of ice had something to do with it.

We all stood around it for a moment, in silence until Jack and Flynn came over from the station with marshmallows and sticks. Along with _stupid_ grins on their faces, “You guys are disgusting.” Said Rapunzel, but they were already roasting them. “I’ll try one,” joined Merida as she took a stick. The three of them roasted marshmallows for a while until we had finished at the station.

When night came we had decided to sleep sitting in the cars, taking turns to drive throughout the night. I couldn’t sleep I was so anxious, so I just kept driving comforted only by Jack’s snores as his head rested on Elsa’s shoulder. Maybe it was the tiredness settling in but I kept seeing things in the dark woods either side of us, it was black and large. I blinked my eyes and it was gone, just kept driving.

Then I noticed I couldn’t see the other’s headlights in the rear view mirror, nothing I grabbed the radio. “Guys are you there?” I asked, only white noise responded. Panic was rising inside me like adrenaline. I tried for five more minutes. Nothing.

I shook Astrid awake, one hand still on the steering wheel. “Astrid wake up!” I Hissed, she came around, “What’s wrong?” she asked drowsily with a hint of worry in her voice.

“I can’t see the others and they’re not responding when I radio them.”

“What?!” she jerked up and looked out the window, “I’ll check through the sun roof.”

“What?” I asked but it was too late, she was already opening it, letting in the icy drizzle that stung my face. Amazingly neither Jack nor Elsa hadn’t woken up yet. Astrid stood up on her seat, I heard her grip the roof. She was OK. I tried to keep an eye on the road, while she peered out into the night. She sat back down a minute later, her hair was full of icicles and she looked incredibly windblown. “Anything?” I asked as she got her breath back.

“Nothing.” She replied, “Not a single thing.” Just at that moment a blinding light came from behind us. They had switched the floodlights on. “What the fuck is going on?” shouted Jack, Elsa just shouted bolt upright. We heard laughing on the radio as I swerved a little. Jack immediately leant forward between the two front seats and grabbed the radio. “WHAT THE FUCK?” he yelled, before he could shout anymore I grabbed it from him, I heard muffled swearing from the backseat. I pulled off the road and got out into the freezing night, I was too angry to really care. They pulled over behind us too.

“What was that?” I shouted over the wind, as the others got out of the car. They were- infuriatingly- still laughing. “Not funny guys. You really scared us.”

“Oh come on, bro.” said Merida, between laughs “It is pretty funny.” My solid expression didn’t change. Even Jack was beginning to laugh, “I had enough, guys.”

“Oh will you stop being so serious, Hiccup?” asked Jack,

“Oh so I’m _meant_ to not give a shit whether we live or die?” I ask, there was silence. I stormed off back to the Cruzer and sat in the back seat, I really needed some sleep. Elsa took the next turn driving, Astrid sat in the back with me and we had some tea from a thermos. I fell asleep a little after Astrid, it was 4:45am.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry, I just had to add the roasted marshmellows... I was having a bad day


	13. Chapter 13

The next few days fell into a boring rhythm of sitting around listening to white noise from the radio and staring out the window when I wasn’t driving. We drove on end only stopping at gas stations to freshen up a little and get some more junk food which we’d burn off by killing any zombies we ran into. A total of four more were used as fuel to roast marshmallows. The further we got, the colder it was, I did not take my jackets off I was so cold. The others seemed to be more resistant.

The worst thing other than the obscene boredom was night time, every night I would think I was hallucinating as I saw things moving in the distance to either side of the road. It left me in a state of constant anxiety, as if the fact that we could crash, be attacked or anything of the sort could happen all at once wasn’t enough. “You want me to take over?” asked Astrid one bitterly morning, the sun was just beginning to rise and we were about half a day from the military base. I realised my knuckles were white from clenching the steering wheel and that I was clenching my teeth, I relaxed. “It’s fine,” I said shakily.

“Are you sure? You don’t look so well.” I instinctively checked the rear view mirror, the others were still behind us. I realised that my reflection was a pale boy with slightly overgrown hair and bags under his eyes. “Yeah I guess you could take over. Next gas station?”

“Sure thing. But seriously you’re sweating,”

“What?” I wiped my forehead, she was right.

“Are you sure you’re feeling ok?” I thought about it, now that I wasn’t clenching the wheel or my teeth, my leg was burning. What was it?

“No.”

“Stop the car.” She ordered and picked up the radio and told the others that to pull over, we did the same. As soon as I got out, I fell over the concrete road grazed my hands with little cuts which burnt with the cold. I slumped up against the car weakly. I didn’t realise that Astrid was face to face with me until about a minute later, she looked frightened. My vision was blurring and I felt something shift in my stomach, like was going to puke.

“Get that bucket, I think he’s going to hurl!” Astrid shouted, the bucket we packed for the hell of it was in my lap a moment later. Then it came, revolting. Good thing I didn’t miss. I could feel Astrid patting me on the back, telling me it’s all right. “I’m… so sorry.” I gasp, unable to breathe.

I stopped hurling but I still couldn’t breathe, my throat had clogged up. All noise had blurred to muffled sounds of panic. I could feel Rapunzel’s gentle hands on my shoulders, lying me down on the pavement on the side with my arms crossed over my chest. Always the nurse, I was more than grateful that she had done all that medical training. She told me that lying someone on their side was a classic CPR technique; that it would help clear the throat.

I sensed everyone standing around me, I couldn’t care less. I just lay there in the growing snow, shivering with cold. Sleep gradually took me until all I could feel was black until there was nothing. Then I saw a road, the road where the explosion happened, where I lost my leg. I felt like i was back there, the zombie grabbed me, it tried to bite i felt something sharp in my ankle. It  _did_ bite me. I wondered if losing my leg and the explosion had saved my life more than I thought.

There was nothing I could do now, I couldn't even warn them.

Was this what it was like to die?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are getting interesting.... i think


	14. ASTRID's POV

“Get out of the way,” I fell onto my knees, trying not to hurt Rapunzel who was kneeling next to Hiccup. “Is he ok?” I asked, I checked for a pulse. And waited after a few brief moments of panic I found a slight movement, he was alive. “We should get to that base.” Said Jack,

“You don’t fucking say?” I snap, “Sorry, just help me get him into the car. It’s our only hope.” Jack helped me get him into the back seat. I tried holding back tears, but the pain in my throat became unbearable. I let out a small sob, I felt Jack’s hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him “It’ll be ok, Astrid.” He said quietly, I nodded a little. “Let’s just get out of here.”

We set off again, the mood was considerably grey. I sat in the back seat next to Hiccup, he occasionally shifted as if he were having a bad dream. At full speed, we could see the city-like camp on the horizon within half an hour. The panic began to wear away a little.

The main problem was getting in, they were just about to close the gates because it was getting dark, we just in by a minute. The place was amazingly alive and gloomy at the same time, there were black and khaki green tents. People were everywhere, more than we had seen in a while. Half of them looked just as bad as we did, maybe a little cleaner than us.

All the tents were circling a tall concrete building surrounded me some more concrete, they all decreased in size the further they were from the centre. The guards directed us to the hospital area. The others went to their quarters where they were going to be tested for any contagion. They took Hiccup away and got him a bed as soon as we arrived, it was good service. “Name?” asked a nurse with tired eyes, “Henry Haddock.” I said shortly, the nurse looked worried.

“As in Stoick Haddock’s son?” she asked,

“Yes, we heard he’s here.” Interrupted Jack,

“He is indeed, I can get him down here. First, we need a diagnosis. Any bites?” Jack and I looked at each other nervously. “Don’t think so. No.”

“We’ll have to put him in containment, just to be sure, standard procedure.”

“Whatever you need to do.” I said,

“Anything else we should be aware of? What happened to him?”

“Well, as you might have guessed he lost his leg, it was in a building explosion a few days ago. Our friend made him a prosthetic out of ice, we really don’t know how. Before he passed out this afternoon, he seemed to have a fever and he was sick and you can guess what happened from there.” The nurse jotted down everything I said, a doctor came to her side and said something in a hushed tone. “What is it?” I asked.

“You can see him, now. Come with me.” The nurse led us further into the hospital, we passed so many drawn curtains there had to be at least fifty. We saw a few patients with bad cuts and some having lost limbs as well. We made our way down to the containment units where Hiccup was. They were private from outside eyes, I was kind of happy about that. When we arrived at his room the nurse turned and left, “I’ll go and call his father.” We nodded and entered the small room that smelt of disinfectant.

Hiccup hadn’t been changed, he was still in his signature hiking pants and t-shirt, the green hoodie and snow jacket had been placed on a chair beside his bed. He was still asleep and had tubes coming from underneath the black and red folds of the shirt. He did look better already, cleaner. They had removed his ice leg and taken the bandage off of the stump that remained, there was the main problem.

He had gotten frostbite on his sump, I couldn’t look at it. It was different seeing a zombie with gaping wounds and blood pouring from its’ face and seeing your friend losing a leg and then seeing it with black frostbite.

“It’s infected,” said the doctor he was a tall, slender man with grey hair and intense eyebrows. “What with is another question. We’re doing all we can, all you can do is sit tight.”

“Thank you, for all your help.” Jack said, the Doctor nodded and left the room.

“As for you two, we’ll have someone come in a moment and run some tests as I’m sure you’re aware.” We nodded, he seemed very agitated. I couldn’t blame him. Jack let me sit the chair while we waited for our tests. I insisted he at least sat on the arm rest.

“Poor guy,” he sighed, I let my head fall onto his arm. Silent tears finally escaped my eyes. “It’s like that Australian politician said, ‘shit happens’. I think his name is Tony Abbot.” I managed a small laugh, “At least they have figured out their shit, to a certain degree.”

Our doctor arrived a couple of minutes later. “Ok, this is just a finger prick blood test. It’s nothing to worry about. We’ll just take a sample and put the strip into this analyser and we should get the result for anything we should know about.” Jack volunteered to go first, he hissed when the needle pricked his finger. Then it was all over, not too bad at all by the look of it. The doctor put the strip of paper with the sample into the analyser.

While she was waiting she took my sample, it hurt as much as it looked. My finger did feel a little weird for a while though. Our results loaded a minute later, much to our relief we were both negative. “Well that’s good isn’t it?” she said, packing up the equipment,

“What happens if it does come back positive?” I ask, she looked a little sad.

“I’m sorry I don’t have the heart to explain, it’s a need to know situation.” The answer to my question was obvious, anyone with a positive result was to be killed. “Is Hiccup positive?” I asked

“We do not think so.” She replied shortly.

I took a deep breath. “We’ll take you to your quarters now, they’re the best we could get. Since you’re the company of Mr. Haddock.”

“I’m sorry,” interrupted jack as the doctor began to lead us out, “But who exactly is Hiccup’s dad? Why are we getting top priority?”

“Mr Haddock was in the army many years ago, he became I high-ranking officer after years of service. He made it so high that he obtained a place in parliament. He’s the one running this base.”

“How do you know that?”

“Everyone wants to know who’s leading them,” she said shortly, we followed her from the unit. I took one last glance at Hiccup as we left. Jack put his arm around my shoulder. I didn’t bother to flick it off.

A Jeep took us to the quarters in the main building, the flood lights in the streets were being turned on as the sun disappeared. There were troops in black everywhere, it made me feel slightly comforted and nervous at the same time. We were taken up to one of the higher floors in an elevator.

Our room was a shared one with four bunk beds lining the walls, a door to a bathroom in the corner next to us. In the centre was a small flat screen and a couch, the rest of us would have to sit on the floor or on our bunks. Elsa and Anna were next to the door. Perpendicular to them was Flynn and Rapunzel who went head to head with Jack and Merida.

They saved what would be Hiccup and I’s bunk so that we could see out the window to the snowy wastelands and tents. Our rucksacks were all under our beds I saw my axe against the wall next to my bed, I was more than happy to see it. We were on the corner of the building so we had another window behind the TV. It was fogged up and grimy, leaving only a view of blurred lights.

I went over to my bunk and took the top one, Hiccup would want the bottom, even with a left foot. There was a sleeping bag and pillow set up like everyone else’s. They were all a blue grey, very uplifting. “Anything we should know about this place?” asked Jack, slumping onto his top bunk.

“Well,” began Anna, “we get the day off tomorrow to explore the place and pick our jobs.”

“Jobs?” I ask,

“Yeah,” added Merida, fiddling with her arrows. She had gotten a new bow, a carbon fibre one. “I’ve already picked, army.”

“What are the options here?”

“Medical, army, communications and technology.” listed Rapunzel, “The names are pretty self-explanatory. Anna and I have chosen medical, Merida- as you already know- and Flynn have already chosen to be in the army and Elsa is joining communications.

“What will you be joining?” asked Flynn, interested I thought for a moment, I wouldn’t be particularly good anything else except for them army, I had considered it as a career. “I guess it’s the army for me then,” I said.

“Me too.” added Jack. I gave him a small smile.

“But back to the main topic of the day,” said Flynn,

“How’s Hiccup?” asked Elsa, Jack and I looked at each other immediately, I could see the same question I was asking myself in his eyes. How would Elsa feel if she knew about the frostbite? Jack shook his head a little bit, I felt the others staring us. “What is it?” Merida asked,

“He’s fine, it was just an infection.” Jack said,

“ _An infection?”_ asked Anna, panic in her voice.

“No! He wasn’t bitten, they said he was most likely negative.”

“ _Most likely?”_ piled Merida, the mood was getting anxious.

“They’re not sure, and they’re doing all they can.” I said quietly. “The Doctor said that all we can do is sit tight and hope for the best.”

“How can we ‘sit tight and hope for the best’ when we’re not a 100% sure that he’s not going to become one of _them?”_ shouted Flynn leaping off of his bunk. That was it I leapt off of my bunk too and grabbed my axe, it was leaning against the wall and I raised it. “How dare you suggest that that could happen, to _Hiccup_ of all people?” I yelled.

Rapunzel screamed at me to stop, Flynn had his arms in the air in surrender. We froze and I noticed that everyone was on their feet. “Please will you please _calm down?_ This is no way to handle this. Let’s just get some dinner when soon and all go to bed, everything is going to be _fine._ ” Rapunzel yelled. I relaxed and lowered my axe, I tried not to sob. Anna took the axe from my shaking hands "It's ok, Astrid." she said. A bell rang through the building and our silence.

We left our room and went down to a large dining hall and ate our mass produced lasagne in a painful quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! another chapter! yay, thanks for all the hits AND THE KUDOS and ONE BOOKMARK THANK YOU SO MUCH! i could really use some feedback via the comments, because im going into this blind and i would like some input. what would you like to happen? 
> 
> yes this chapter is in Astrid's point of view, it seemed like the best way to write this part, with hiccup unconscious it would be very uneventful...


	15. ASTRID's POV again

When we got back up to the room, I washed up in the small bathroom. My hair was a mess and my face was dirty. With my face and everything else cleaned being partly dressed, I took to my hair. I took out of what was left of my braid and it flooded down my back and over my shoulders in wet strands, my fringe now dominated half of my face. I found some scissors in the cabinet, looked at my reflection once more and pulled a small section of hair between my two fingers and began to cut. I made my way around my head, taking a little off at a time, trying to keep it neat. When I was halfway through I paused to look at myself. I let out a small gasp in horror, it was all wrong. My hair was now  a close resemblance of a bird's nest. “Shit” I hissed, gathering it so it was in a ponytail or a braid. It didn’t work, nothing did. There was no way of hiding it.

I made sure I was relatively decent and partly opened the door. “Rapunzel,” I called, “can I have some help?”

“Sure,” she replied, she got up from her bunk where she was watching the TV from. I heard a whistle come from Jack and I sneered at him. “Don’t have too much fun without me!” he called,

“Shut up, Jack.” Said Rapunzel calmly and walked inside the bathroom. When she saw what I had done, she raised her hand to her mouth and tried not to let out a giggle.

“Shut up.” I whimpered, handing her the scissors.

“I’m sorry, why did you do it?” she asked.

“It was messy and I thought I could tidy it up.”

“Well I’ll see what I can do to help,” she took the scissors, “You might have to lose a bit though, it’ll grow back of course.” I nodded and sat down on a stool, facing the mirror. I didn’t watch her though, I just looked at my lap. She worked incredibly fast and immaculately like a professional. She even put the cuttings in the bin as she worked.

I felt the weight of the hair lighten as she worked, I was scared about the result. Thankfully, I hadn’t touched my fringe so she just fixed it up into a neat side bang. “All done!” she announced, I summed up the courage to look in the mirror. It was beautiful. My hair now was just about my shoulders in a long bob, with a fringe. I loved it, though it would take some getting used to. At least I didn’t have to worry about it as much anymore. “I hope its ok for now, just don’t try and cut your own hair again.” She said.

“Thank you so much! I love it.” I replied with a smile. “Look, I’m sorry about before."

“Hey, don’t worry about it. We’re all a little scared and well, touchy.” I nodded and got up, she gave me a hug. It turned out I needed one more than I had realised. I cleaned up the mess so Jack could use the bathroom, he stank. When I walked out, I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. “Nice hair!” said Anna. Everyone nodded, “You look simply ravishing,” complemented Jack, I just shook my head and put my things under my bed. “Well it’s my turn!” he announced getting up.

“Wait, wait,” said Elsa. “Before any of us do anything,” she got out a pad a paper and a pen. “Housekeeping rules.”

“Ok,” Jack sat back down. “Rule number one: no peeing in the shower.” There was a chorus of ‘ewww’ but he did have a point, Elsa wrote.

“Rule number two:” Joined Flynn, “If any of you ladies have a… you know, don’t be embarrassed and take it out on us and be sure to take out the rubbish. No judgement here, right bro?”

“Sure thing, seriously no one hides it that well so just don’t try. We’re all mates here.”

“Fine,” sighed Elsa, writing it down. Merida looked ready to kill.

“See?” pointed out Jack “No judgement, Merida.” everyone laughed, even her.

“Ok,” she said “a rule for the boys. NO WANKING.” Flynn and Jack looked at each other.

“Fair enough,” they chorused. It was written along with cleaning up after yourself and no alcohol after 11pm, just in case.

The list ended up being

                HOUSE RULES

  1.        _NO PEEING IN SHOWER_
  2.        _DON’T BE EMBARRASSED AND CLEAN UP DURING PERIODS_
  3.        _NO WANKING_
  4.        _CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF IF YOU MAKE A MESS_
  5.        _NO ALCOHOL AFTER 11PM_
  6.        _NO PRANKS (Jack, that means you.)_
  7.        _NO TV WHILE AT LEAST TWO PEOPLE ARE SLEEPING_
  8.        _BE IN BED BEFORE MIDNIGHT_
  9.        _NO SEX_



The rules were pinned on the back of the door next to the first-aid kit and building plan and rules. Their rules were basically no drunks, curfew between 8pm and 6am every night (unless you had a pass and/or were on duty), weapons allowed in case of attack but if any intentional harm is done; it will result in expulsion or extra work hours.

All people were required to work in either the army, medical areas, communications (and cleaning/food) or technology (and mechanics). Shifts were given accordingly to need, everyone was required to help. Which was fair.

I lay awake in my bunk listening to the others watching Toy Story and looking out the window, the lights were beginning to dim, it was almost 10pm and the day were coming to a close. I watched the wall being patrolled by the soldiers, keeping us safe. I fell asleep just as there were only a few lights left and a blizzard was rolling in.

I woke a couple of hours later to a sharp knock at the door, it was opened by Elsa. Merida was shaking me awake. “What is it?” I asked sleepily, there was a guard at the door. I sat up,

“Your buddy is waking up. The Doctor thinks there should be a friend with him for now, until his father can be there.”

“Do you want to sleep?” asked Jack “One of us can go instead,”

“No it’s ok, I can sleep later,” I scrambled out of my sleeping bag, hastily put on my jacket and boots and followed the soldier. I was taken to the hospital in a jeep again, the base was like a ghost town, it was so quiet and dark. The storm was just as bad as when I fell asleep.

The Doctor was waiting for me as I arrived and led me in to Hiccup’s unit. There was a radio in there now, it was playing Imagine Dragons. He would like that. “Oh and there’s something you should now,” the Doctor began, stopping in front of me.

“Yes?”

“We did find a single contagion cell, but don’t worry as you remember there were immunisations running just before this contagion became critical.”

“Yes, I remember. He had it.” I say, a little bit of panic in my voice

“And it just about saved his life, he’s going to be fine. There wasn’t an enough in his system to kill him. Even better,” he shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. “He may even be completely immune to a bite as far as we know. We’re not going to test it obviously but there is one small downside,”

“Yes?”

“He won’t remember the past few days, but he probably does know the situation.”

“How?”

“Well you see, there’s a difference between what you know and what you remember. He probably knows he’s lost a leg and all but he probably doesn’t know the details of how he got here.”

“Not too bad then.”

“Oh sure it’s fine, but he may be a little confused at first. That’s why we need a friend to explain the situation.”

“Thankyou for everything.”

“My pleasure,” he turned to leave.

“Wait a second,” I called, the Doctor turned,

“Yes?”

“Has his father been here?”

“Yes, he was a little rattled about his leg and condition. He told me to thank you and your friends for getting him here in time. Is there anything else?”

“No, thanks again.” He left,

“Nice hair, by the way!” he called back. I heard a small moan from behind me. I rushed over to his bed, his eyes flickered open and he looked around in a dazed, wild panic. “Hiccup,” I say quietly, grabbing his shoulder. He looked at me with dazed yet panicked eyes.

“What the fuck happened to your hair?” he asked, I let out a sigh of relief my head bowed.

“It’s ok, you just need to take it easy.”

“No, no you need to get rid of me.” He tried to get up but was restrained by the tubes,

“What are you talking about?”

“I was bitten, now get me out of here before I hurt anyone.”

“No, Hiccup. They took care of it. It’s all ok, in fact almost immune to a bite, they’re not going to test for that though. The ice leg caused some frostbite and that got a little infected, that made you sick.” He immediately relaxed and laid back in the bed.

“Does Elsa know? What happened?” It was just as the Doctor said, memory loss.

“No and what’s the last thing you remember?” I asked, he looked thoughtful.

“Umm, I remember listening to the radio and hearing Dad’s voice and not much after that at all. Is my Dad here?”

“Yes, he his. He’s just taking care of some stuff and he was here a little while ago. He’ll be back soon. You don’t remember anything about the car trip?”

“No, what car trip?”

“It’s not that important, all I can remember after the radio is that I remember seeing things.”

“What things?”

“Just I remember looking into the trees, I must have been driving or something and there was something following us.”

“Maybe it was the other car,”

“No, it definitely wasn’t a car. It was some kind of animal it was huge and black.”

“Hiccup, you’ve been through a lot. You’re probably seeing things,” he shook his head,

“So, what about the others?”

“Asleep, it’s like.” I looked at the clock, “It’s 1:30 in the morning. They’re ok, we’ve got a room in the main building, thanks to you.”

“I really like your hair, it’ll take some getting used to.”

“Yeah, curtesy of Rapunzel. Tried it myself and messed it up, now I think about it, it’s kind of funny.” The Doctor came into the room again, “How are you?” he asked,

“Fine, I’ve been better.” Hiccup replied,

“I understand your friend here has explained the your state.” He nodded, “then there’s the case of your leg.”

“What about it?” he asked, he looked a little scared,

“Well, because of the frostbite. We, uh, had to take some more off. We’ll get you a normal prosthetic and should be fine.”

“Ok.” Hiccup looked a little sad. He’d have to endure some of that pain of learning to walk and heal again.

“Thank you, for everything.”

“We can call in the rest of your friends, if you want, it’s your choice. Your father should be in when it’s a decent hour.”

“Yeah, I’d like to see them.” Hiccup agreed, the Doctor left again.

“He seems a little intense to me.” Observed Hiccup as the Doctor left.

“Can’t blame him though.” I said quietly.

“Yeah, I guess you're right.”

“Can I find you something to eat?”

“I don’t know, I’m not that hungry.” We waited for the others to arrive by just listening to the radio, I sat back in the chair and kicked my legs up onto the bed. I sat there, half-asleep until they arrived.

“Oh darling, you’ve gotta stop pulling this crap on us!” exclaimed Jack, giving him a hug. Hiccup looked so happy to see everyone. They all said their hellos and then we sat down on the floor, beside his bed. We stayed there, quietly playing poker over the radio. Everything was good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback?
> 
> i've just been through chapters 1-10, editing them... god it was terrible. but it's fixed (somewhat) and i've filled in a few tiny gaps.


	16. HICCUP's POV yay!

We just sat there for a few ours, not talking. A nurse gave me permission and helped me sit on the ground with them. Apparently I still had to be hooked up to all the fucking tubes. They were so annoying, I just wanted to rip them off. Astrid leant on my shoulder and I leant on Jack’s who leant on Elsa’s. ‘How were they going?’ I wondered.

They were all just about half asleep, or just asleep. Except me I just stayed and listened to the beeping of my own heart, which was comforting. I began to wonder what they would do if I wasn’t here. Probably just carry on as usual. What did it matter? We are all just statistics in the end, how many died? How many lived? But it was the quiet moments like these that meant the most to me.

We just stayed, I don’t know for how long but before I knew it the Doctor walked in “Your father’s here.” His voice woke everyone up, I stood up on my right foot and sat on the edge of the bed. I was so glad they didn’t change my clothes, I couldn’t stand a hospital gown. They got up and left after a hasty goodbye. Dad rushed into the room and gave me a big hug. “You’re alive!” he exclaimed,

“Thanks dad.” I gasped, he let me go. And for the first time in what felt like forever, he looked me in the face. His eyes were sad and stressed. I sighed, “I’m sorry.” I murmur,

“About what?” he asked, grabbing the chair and sitting down. It creaked under his weight.

“That all of this happened, about the state I’m in. I even lost Toothless.”

“Son, it’s going to be fine.” He made me look up, “you have your friends. They seem to really care about you. I know no one can replace Toothless, but what do we do when we’re missing someone at this time of year?” he put his hand on my shoulder, “We celebrate them.” I gave him a weak smile.

“Thanks Dad, what am I going to do while we’re here?”

“Well we all have our work to do, Gobber’s running technology and mechanics for the base, I could get you a place there. Or you could try the army? We also have a room for you, unless you want to be with your friends, which is fine.” I could see he wanted me to be in the army, the Son of Stoick, respected by everyone. “But in the meantime, you need a new leg.”

“Could I build one? And I think I’ll stay with my friends.”

“Sure, whatever you need.” Dad’s phone rang, he answered. After a few seconds of a few ‘yes’s and an ‘I’ll be right there’ he hung up. “Sorry, I need to go. Will you be alright?”

“Yeah sure. Go, you have a job to do. They probably really need you.” He nodded and left. Then the doctors came and I was a pincushion. They took blood, ran tests, took more blood and ran more tests. Food consisted of thawed salads and crushed ice. Delicious.

They found me a wheelchair that afternoon. I was allowed to leave, they probably had other patients to look after and take in. I got a few stares as I left and felt the cold evening air on my face. Was this my life now? The kid with one and a half legs?

A soldier took me into what looked like the main building, more stairs and soldiers. I was taken to an elevator which seemed to be left only for desperate times. It was a little rusty. With a knock on the door I entered a small room with four bunk beds, all had my friends were just sitting there. Some on their bunks and others on a couch. Just watching the TV when I entered, I smiled.

“Back to the land of the living!” announced Jack, “well, what used to be.”

“No more freak-shows, okay Hic?” said Flynn.

“Trust me, I’m not planning on it.” The Soldier had already left and I wheeled over to the empty bunk beneath Astrid. Why on earth was I the one with the window? Their consideration was really uplifting. As I sat down on the bed, Merida handed me a piece of pad paper.

“What’s this?” I asked,

“Just read it.” She said,

“House rules?”

“Yep,” added Jack,

“Wh-what? No wanking?” I asked, squinting. Was I reading this right?

“Merida’s suggestion after Flynn came up with the period thing.”

“Ok then. I don’t think sex or alcohol will be a problem and _peeing in the shower?”_

“People have been known to do it, apparently,” said Astrid from above me.

“Ok then.” I said, handing the paper back to Merida. “What do we do now then?”

“Dinner’s soon, down in the cafeteria.” Jack said

“I don’t really want to go down there,” I said quietly, fidgeting with my finger nail.

“Why not?”

“I’ve had enough people staring at me for today.”

“That’s fine. We can probably get some food, bring it up and all eat up here.” Suggested Astrid,

“Sounds good,” agreed jack, jumping off of his bunk and rubbing his hands together. “We’ll all go get something and hey presto! Dinner is served!” everyone joined him with murmurs of ‘see ya later’ until it was just me and Astrid in the room. “So, I heard we had to serve in a particular area if we were to stay here.” I began, making small talk.

“Yeah,” she replied, “what do you think you’ll do?”

“Probably technology and mechanics, Dad said I could build a new leg.”

“That’s great, Hic. I’m sorry, but I think I’m joining the army. I hope you don’t mind but its’ where I think I’ll be the most useful.”

“No, you’d be great there. Just don’t get hurt, I don’t want that to happen. To any of us.”

“Don’t worry about me,”

“Did you tell the others what caused the problem or infection on the trip or whatever it was?”

“Jack and I, we didn’t tell them about the frostbite and the other thing.”

“Why not?”

“We didn’t want Elsa to worry and the others to freak out about the other infections and what complications it might mean. Not that it’s likely to cause anything,” I thought for a moment, giving a small sigh. “What is it?”

“This could end badly, them not knowing and all.”

At that moment, the door opened with everyone walking in with trays of hot food that smelt delicious in that mass produced way. “Dinner time!” announced Anna, handing me a tray.

“Oh and we ran into your Dad, more precisely. Flynn did,” added Elsa, “he wanted to thank us for getting you here.”

“Well that was nice of him.” I said.

“Seems like a nice man to me,” Anna said. I laughed a little,

“Don’t make him mad though.”

“Why not?” asked Elsa, sitting down on her bunk with her tray.

“He’s just scary that’s all. Also, on a different subject, I’d like to know how you did this ice thing.”

“OHKAY! Back story night!” said Jack, bouncing up and down. He and Flynn high-fived. Elsa and Anna looked at one another a little uncomfortably. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.” I said,

“No, it’s fine.” Said Elsa, “you should have the right to know.” I nodded a little.

“I was just born under this curse I don’t know how it happened. I grew up away from everyone in town, Anna was my only company, but our parents kept us apart for some reason. Like they were afraid that I’d hurt anyone. It’s all fine now, I mean sure there were a few accidents along the way. But then, I got control of it and I wasn’t freezing everything. That’s basically it.”

“Interesting.” Said Flynn after a brief silence.

“I wonder what caused that,” added Astrid, I was wondering the same thing.

I finished my meal of steamed chicken and potato and chocolate pudding and gave the empty tray to Rapunzel. She and Anna left to take them back to the kitchen. Once my head hit the pillow I realised how exhausted I was. I lay there thinking about tomorrow, everyone but me was going to work. I got an extra day off, what would I do? I could start making my new leg. I saw the base around us from my window. It seemed so, fragile. Like we could fall at any moment the walls were just concrete blocks. It was more of a concrete camp than a city. A false sense of security. It was stupid how we could put all our faith in solidified mud. I felt so stupid.

I called it Berk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> berk= english for stupid person


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also hiccup's POV

I woke to an empty room in the morning, all except for a wheelchair. Well at least it supported me wherever I wanted to go. I sat up and stretched, my head hit the top bunk. The sunlight poured in from the windows, it had to be at least 8am. I checked the clock; yep, I was right. I smelt like dorito’s, so I decided to take a shower. I grabbed a fresh pair of clothes which were almost identical to the ones I was wearing.

I took the bandage off of my stump, I hadn’t had a chance to look at my leg really. Well, as far as I could remember, it was healing remarkably well. I would never get used to it though, it was weird. Taking a shower was hard when balancing on one leg, it was the quickest shower of my life it was so tiring keeping balance and washing hair at the same time. I dried down, got dressed. My hair was quite overgrown, but I didn’t feel like cutting it so I found a hair tie and put it in a small ponytail. My fringe and shorter parts hung out, but it did look better than before. Apparently girls found that attractive; lankiness, not so much.

I sat on my bed, not knowing what to do. I wasn’t even hungry, I tried thinking back to the ‘road trip’ but there was nothing. It began to give me a headache, what was the point? _‘Screw it’_ I thought as I hopped into the wheelchair, grabbed my knife for safety measures and made my way to the outside hall. I followed the directions to the elevator and went down to the main technology lab. Gobber might be there and give me a place to work. I didn’t get my hopes up.

It was surprisingly easy to find my way around the building, I liked that. A guard seemed to recognise me when I got to technology because he immediately let me in and even directed me to Gobber. I tried not to notice all the stares I was getting. “Well hello there!” said Gobber’s voice from within a dark workshop what was full of scraps of metal. Most of which were engine parts. “Good to see most of you made it here! Eh?” he laughed a little.

“Yeah, hey Gobber.” I said, shaking his hand. He seemed to have survived all right.

“What can I do for you?” he asked, returning to his work,

“Did my father tell you that I wanted to work here?”

“He sure did, I even set a corner aside for yeh,” he pointed to a corner that had a curtain in it, I didn’t really notice it before.

“Gee thanks,” I wheeled over to it, and pulled back the greasy cloth, it was bigger than expected it had a decent sized work bench and a full set of standard tools on the wall above it and another wall for designs to be pinned up. “Wow!” I gasped.

“I actually put it together for you when we got here, it took a while to get this whole base on the road while all this fighting was happening. You should have seen it, people working day and night. Some were a little restless as you can imagine, but most of them were rather nice. What do you think of it all?”

“Gobber, I’m sorry to interrupt. But I can’t exactly go down stairs that easily in a wheelchair.” There were about three steps into my workshop that was the only problem with it.

“Oh, sorry lad. Let me help yeh with that.” I stood up on my one leg and hopped down to the stood at the bench and turned on the work lights. Gobber tucked the wheelchair into a corner beside the door. It was perfect. “Can I get ya anything?” he asked, “I imagine you might want a leg.”

“That would be nice.” I nod,

“I’ll get you some metal, just give me a few minutes.” He left and I found some paper to sketch up designs and for a moment I felt at home. Just like the good old days. I came up with a design which looked more like a peg leg, it had a rotating cuff so it could switch between a rounded walking foot and one other which I designed for a motorbike. I modelled it off of a random pedal I found. It took a couple of hours, but I was really happy and got to work.

“Gobber!” I called

“What is it?”

“I may need some wood for this, if it’s possible.”

“Sure, what kind?”

“What do you think would go on a mount for the leg?”

“Pine?”

“Sounds great.” It came a moment later and I measured out all the pieces and gears. By then it was past lunchtime and Gobber insisted that I eat. We sat at the bench making the occasional small talk, “What happened to Toothless?” he asked,

“I don’t know, the details from then are a little bit fuzzy. Can we not talk about it, I’m sorry but it makes me a little uncomfortable.”

“Ok, how’s it going with Astrid?” I stopped eating,

“Speaking of uncomfortable...”

“Fine, how are your designs coming up? Thought of anything?” Gobber looked through the papers,

“Uh, yeah. I thought of one that has a rotating cuff for different feet, one for walking and driving. The other for a motorcycle, that’s why I needed the pedal.” I found the final and gave it to him. He looked at it with an impressed look on his face, “What about padding in the mount? Could make it more _comfortable_ if that’s what yeh want,”

“Yeah, um sure. Is it too much trouble?”

“Not at all lad, I’ll get it too you soon enough.”

“Thanks.” We finished and he took the dishes away and I got back to work. Just as I was getting started, I noticed a radio. _‘I would have to bring my phone or something_ _down here_ ’ I thought. Then I remembered it was in the Cruzer that we left at the docks, probably still playing music if the battery held up. I face palmed so hard I had a slight headache. I checked the disk slot for anything.

Much to my surprise was my favourite CD and next to the player were all the other CDs’ I owned. I said a silent ‘thank you’ to dad and Gobber and started getting all the pieces together. By late afternoon, I had done all I could on the mount without the gears being put in. Astrid, Flynn and Jack came for a visit. “Wow!” observed Jack, looking at the workshop and the designs. They all looked like the other soldiers, just not as formal. They still wore their hoodies under their heavy black jackets. I liked that. “How was first day?” I asked,

“Tiring, mostly instruction and allocating shifts, these two are at night.” Said Astrid, “I got day shifts.”

“I liked the sound of a night shift.” Said Jack,

“Yeah, it’s spookier,” Flynn added, Astrid and I rolled our eyes. I was a little concerned by how well those two got along sometimes. They reminded me of a comical pair from a TV show, I just didn’t remember which one. “You seem to have settled in and nice ponytail.” said Astrid,

“Uh, yeah thanks. Dad and Gobber got my CDs’ together for me, which was really nice of them.”

“Yeah, I can hear that.”

“Jack, can you put those down?” I said, he was trying to juggle the gears I had laid out in arrangement on the bench. “I had them all figured out.”

“Sorry,” he put them back and arranged them into a Christmas tree, no more damage could be done to their arrangement. “Holy shit!” I realised,

“What?” asked Astrid, she looked a little worried.

“Ten days until Christmas!”

“Well let’s roll out North and his elves, we’re going to organise a whole party for the event!” cheered Jack,

“Yeah,” added Flynn, “we’ll have cake and lights and trees.”

“We can ask Gobber about the lights! Let’s go!” they hurried out, beaming in the dim light of the work lamps. “They remind me of Joey and Chandler from Friends.” Said Astrid, leaning on the bench a little.

“Thank you!”

“For what?”

“I was just kinda thinking that, I was just trying to remember Joey and Chandler in specific.”

“Right, well we better get to dinner. Are you coming? Or do you want me to get you something and stay here?”

“I’ll stay here. I’m not that hungry and I really want to finish this leg.”

“Sure, oh and one more thing.” She pulled a radio from her pocket. “For you, just about everyone here needs one.”

“thanks.” I pressed the button and heard the white noise, it felt so familiar but then the voices of people in Berk flooded through like whispers caught in static. “Awesome so now I can contact almost anyone in Berk.”

“Berk?”

“It’s what I call this place. It means stupid person,”

“I like it, be sure to tell your father that one. I’d love to see what he thinks.”

“I probably will.”

“Well, goodnight. I’ll see you soon!”

“Sure.” She left and I was alone again. I rearranged the gears back into their place and started on the feet attachments. That took the most time, I only got the walking one completely finished. I attached it to the mount and adjusted it to fit. It could work with just one leg for now, maybe more than two if I needed it. I also tried fitting it onto my stump. It was almost perfect when I put the padding in. It was really comfortable too. I stood up and took a few steps, it felt like the icefoot but warmer. I looked up and beamed at my success. Then my hem caught on the leg. “Oh come on.” I said as I sat back down to take the leg off. I decided to cut the end of my pant off and stitch up the end. I tried again after I found a needle and bit of thread (which wasn’t that hard, Gobber had everything) it was perfect. All my pants were now due for a modification. That was for later.

Gobber was still in the workshop. “Hey!” I called, “I’ve almost finished it!”

“Well done.”

“I’ve just got to finish the riding leg, fit that in and it’s done.”

“Very clever, I have to admit. Seems to be working.”

“Yep.” I grinned, “Well, goodnight. Thank you for everything and I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Night!” I walked up to the room and amazingly everyone was still up, they were now watching Transformers, Rapunzel, Elsa and Anna were talking about something in the corner. “Hey, how was first day of work?” I asked, sitting down

“No fighting no fun,” said Merida,

“I spent most of the day listening to a radio and sorting out the frozen foods,” summarised Elsa,

“Punz and I had an interesting time, though I might switch into the kitchen and communications” said Anna, “I think I’d be a little better in that area.”

“I liked it,” commented Rapunzel, “it was interesting talking to people and all.”

“Whatever suits you, as long as you’re happy,”

“So all up, it was fine.” Said Jack. “Nice job on the leg by the way.”

“Thanks, it’s not quite finished yet.”

“It should do for the night,” he was right. I sat down on my bunk and watched the movie. I hated watching bumblebee being captured, he reminded me of Toothless. I turned away and stared out the window, not wanting to spoil the other’s fun. It was a good movie, I had to admit.

 


	18. Chapter 18

I woke up to everyone else beginning to get out of bed. It had to be one of the first times I got up at the same time they did. It felt rather good. We took turns in the bathroom and all got ready, I picked up some fruit for breakfast from the cafeteria and went straight to my workshop. I spent the rest of the morning listening to music and putting the finishing touches on my work. I was rather proud of it.

“What would you like me to work on?” I asked Gobber at lunch time.

“Well,” he began, “when all the refugees come in, we store their cars and whatnot for them in the garage which isn’t far from here. We need to fix most of them up due to people’s rough driving when trying to get away from of kill zombies. I figured since you’re good with cars that you’d like to work there. You know installing things, fixing the engines, fitting them with equipment that kind of thing so they’re all ready for those army folks to use in case of an attack.”

“Attack?”

“Yeah, this kind of establishment doesn’t exist without attracting even a few of the _walking dead_ on one bad night, we got about 50 at the wall. We were able to get rid of them of course with a few pre-prepared SUV’s and wall guards. One casualty, sadly. But anyway, we need to be ready for any kind of amount.”

“I can start this afternoon.” I volunteered,

“Brilliant!” so Gobber led me outside which I had never seen in broad daylight before, it was so grey. There were people almost everywhere. Half of them wore the same kind of equipment as Astrid and the others, most had some sort of weapon. I decided to keep my head down out here, I didn’t want to cause a fuss.

There was something about all these people, even though just about all of them had suffered from the past couple of weeks and on their way here, they seemed almost happy. They chatted away about Christmas, what they were doing. I even heard some discussions on the most enjoyable way to kill a zombie even a recount from one guy who was shooting them while riding on a rollercoaster. Apparently they flew off and it was a hilarious thing to watch. I made a note of the guy, I wanted to talk to him later, he seemed interesting and he wore a snakeskin jacket and cowboy hat.

The garage was huge, it was lined with cars of all shapes and sizes, and I even saw a Ferrari Enzo. It didn’t look too bad either. There were a few motorbikes I spotted a couple of Harley-Davidsons. The place was almost a treasure trove. Quite a few vehicles were rather beaten up, but not beyond repair.

“All decent sized SUV’s are to be fitted with a long range machine gun which you’ll find in the weapons bay and a radio. The guns need to be fitted by creating a sun roof over the backseat of the car, wide enough for the fitting and one or two people. You follow?” Explained Gobber.

“Yep,” I answered, still looking around in amazement.

“And this, is my beauty. Your father also uses it sometimes.” He led me to what looked like an old army fire truck with a green camo pattern painted on it. But there was a red Viking helmet and dragon insignia spray-painted on the sides. The back had canons installed instead of hoses, it was too high for any zombie to climb, despite of there being a ladder at the back. The wheels almost reached up to my shoulder “I call her Big Bertha,” said Gobber, hugging the side of it fondly.

“She certainly looks like one,” I observed in amazement, “How fast can it go?”

“About 185km/h but then there’s the case of momentum when turning a corner.”

“Yeah, you should go slowly around them. I don’t think you want it to tip over, especially with people on the back.” Gobber laughed,

“We certainly do not, we even had to widen the main road from here to the gate so we can get her out into action.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“You can come with us on one scouting mission if yeh want.”

“Scouting mission?”

“Oh yeah, about every week or so we head her and a few other Jeeps out about a mile from the gate, just checking for any threats.”

“Maybe,” I didn’t want to tell him that I would more or less rather be here.

I spent the rest of the day rearming some genuine army Jeeps and fixing the engines from some of the cars that could actually be repaired after their journey here. The rest were going to be placed along the wall for barricades.

“What do you like to use when attacked by a zombie?” asked Gobber a few hours later, trying to make some kind of small talk when we were fitting a particularly big machine gun to a BMW. “I like use the dagger that Dad got me, it still have it. I ran over a few zombies once, and I also used a baseball bat. My friend Jack used a chainsaw once and my other friend, she can freeze stuff with just her hands so she froze a few while Astrid cut off a few heads with an axe.”

“Yes, I heard about your freezing friend, it’s a huge advantage to have her around. You know, just in case. It would be nice to have more of her.”

“What are you saying, Gobber?”

“Just that people with gifts like that could help us win this war.”

“War? Wh-what do you mean?” I hated that word, let alone the very idea of one.

“Yes, Hiccup. Ever since this started, it has been a fight for survival. We’ve been trying to reach out to some other bases around the world, the only one who we heard back from was a marine base in Australia.”

“Wait a minute; Merida’s family is in Australia. Do you know anything about them?”

“Yes actually, they’re fine and they send their love.” I gave a massive sigh of relief,

“Excuse me a minute. I’ll be right back.”

“Sure thing.” I jumped from the BMW’s roof, which was a bit more of a stumble when I hit the ground because of my leg. A sharp pain shot right through my leg, making me wince a little. I looked up to see if anyone had noticed, no one, and then I found a quiet corner.

I grabbed the radio from my pocket and clicked the button. “Merida are you there?” I ask, it was the third time I tried that she actually answered, “What is it Hiccup, is something wrong?”

“No, not at all. In fact I have some rather good news,”

“Yes?”

“They’ve heard back from your parents in Australia, they’re in a Marine base. Absolutely fine and they send their love.” I could hear her relief over the static, it was rather touching.

“Thank you so much, Hic! Remind me to give you a hug later.”

“I might, anyway we should get back to work. I’ll see you at dinner.”

“Yes and by the way; thank you, I really mean it.”

“No problem.” I turned the radio off and returned back to work. When I finished my shift, I washed my obscenely greasy hands and face. It was the badge of a hard day’s work among machines.

For once things were looking relatively up. We had the gang together, we were relatively safe, we had each other, there was more hope for one another’s families, and all we had to know about now were Astrid’s parents. She seemed really optimistic about it. Even better; Christmas was on its’ way and it looked like Jack and Flynn’s plan was coming together.

It was clear when dinner time came. There were make shift Christmas decorations made from scrap parts and random bits of trees for wreaths and worn out grenades and weapons that were painted christmassy colours for decoration. The whole thing was rather charming. People were putting up lights when I walked outside, some were already on and blinking different colours. In the central plaza where some roads lead out into different areas of the camp was a massive wooden Christmas tree that had all types of painted shields on it. In the cafeteria, there were two large decorated trees. All the more festive.

The whole atmosphere was optimistic and cheery, hot chocolate was being served by the galleon and I even got a large mug with my roast chicken for dinner. Amazingly I found the table with the gang sitting there. Merida, Astrid, Jack and Flynn were still wearing their army jackets. It was beginning to be a normal thing. Just as I had put my tray on the table, Merida leapt up and hugged me. “Thank you!”

“As I said, no problem.” I gasped. Everyone liked tight hugs here. I sat down and dug into the delicious food. Everyone talked about their day and discussed it. Just sat quietly, taking in the company of everyone around me and the feeling that I was with my friends and that meant family.

  


	19. JACK'S POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just had to

Everything was falling into a rhythm, it was really different to before when all we had to worry about was not getting expelled from and passing school. Now it was moderately fun to me. Despite the situation, I felt rather free. Every morning at about 4 o’clock, Flynn and I was go to bed and sleep until midday when we’d get up and start the day.

Night shifts were amazing, Flynn and I just sat by a wood fire that was inside a metal bin and stared at the stars and out to the wastelands that surrounded us. We had known each other for god knows how long since we were in the same home for a while. The Nanny there absolutely hated us sometimes because we caused so much trouble. But on the other hand, we’d get the younger kids out of her hair (quite literally) on some occasions.

About two miles away was a forest, some serious shit could go down there if we needed to crush some skulls at some point. “How’s it going with Punz?” I asked Flynn,

“Great, yeah. This whole thing is a bit much to take in sometimes. How about you and Elsa?” my head hung at the very mention of Elsa. I buried my face in my hands. “Fine,” I mumbled, “Did Haddock tell you anything?”

“Nope, why would he? He’s like the quietest out of all of us.”

“And the most beaten up, physically and emotionally.”

“He’s a good fellow that one. I heard something about Stoick trying to get him to join the army, I think for now he’s letting Hic recover a little bit though.” Flynn was right and Hiccup probably knew this.

“Anyway back to Elsa, are you ever going to talk to her again? Or just coexist?” asked Flynn after a moment of silence.

“I don’t know,” I fidgeted with my nail, I didn’t really want to talk about it to be honest.

“I could get Rapunzel to talk to her, if you want.”

“No, thankyou put wouldn’t that seem a little shy of me? Like I can’t even approach someone of the opposite gender and have a straight conversation without them without wanting to dunk my head in an ice bucket?”

“In some ways, probably. You can talk to Astrid, Merida, Anna and Punz fine though,”

“Yes, but Punz is a little angel, Anna is probably just about as awkward as I am, Merida and I just get along. With Astrid, she and Hic are meant for each other, you can spot it a mile away without binoculars.”

“You have a point, my friend. But what’s wrong with talking to Elsa?”

“She’s a little regal. If you know what I mean, even though she’s just like you she has a bit of authority and a sense that she isn’t really comfortable around people about her.”

“She has spent a long time away from people, you know. It’s probably quite hard for her right now.”

“You’re right, maybe I should just take Haddock’s advice.”

“Which is?”

“Be yourself and embrace the inner-dork. He calls it the ‘Haddock Charm’.” Flynn burst out laughing and wiped a tear away from his eye.

“That sounds like something he would say. But he does have a point, how about you try that? On a different topic again, how are you feeling? You gave us a bit of a scare before.”

I had barely thought about it to be honest, I was so worried about getting here. “Alright, I guess. I’m not sure what happened, I just woke up feeling really, _really_ cold one night and I couldn’t think straight.”

“Weird, you always have had a thing about not feeling the cold.” Flynn was right again, he was really on the ball tonight. “Maybe it was the immunisation?” I suggested, “When we got them at school, I had a bit of a cold wave and stuff.” Flynn shrugged,

“Just be careful, mate. It’s ok to be worried about your own health sometimes, may sound selfish but sometimes I guess it’s what we need to do.”

“Since when were you so good at ‘deep and meaningful’s?” I laughed,

“I think it may be a side-effect of dating Rapunzel.” He shifted uncomfortably.

“There are not many things that could go wrong when you hang out with her.” Said Merida’s voice, making me jump.

“Can you not sneak up on us?” I asked, “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” she shrugged, sitting down. “You see, I was talking to Elsa before and it does seem like she really likes you, she just wishes you’d be honest when being around her. Don’t try and be so macho, you know. She can see right through it.”

“The skinny one was right!” I exclaim all of a sudden.

“What?”

“Haddock said that I should just be myself. How could I be so stupid and just not do that?”

“I dunno, frost.” Said Flynn, patting me on the shoulder “You have a weird way of achieving shit. Plus, the girls at school always threw themselves at you.” He was right, I had never had to deal with this kind of thing before now. “Since when were you on night shift?” I asked Merida, changing the topic. “Since they needed someone on the job, Astrid nearly took it but I thought that she might want to talk to Hic during the day and hang out with him.”

“That was nice of you.” Complemented Flynn

“Thanks. Plus I kinda like the night time too, you know.”

We spent the rest of the night staring into the space around us, there was nothing to be seen. I was beginning to think the ‘no sense of the cold’ was an advantage of being here. Time seemed to cease to exist when you’re just sitting there, not thinking.

Merida snapped me out of my cone of silence with a click of her right hand in my face “Shift’s up, let’s go sleep.” I followed the others down from the top of the barricade and to our room. I caught everyone else on their way to breakfast when I got back to the room. I didn’t want to eat with Merida and Flynn, I wasn’t hungry. I just didn’t eat much anymore. It was great, I didn’t have to think about these things a lot anymore.

Elsa was the last one out of the room, she was just beginning to close the door when I hurried up to her. “Hey,”

“Good morning,” she replied looking slightly nervous. I was stumped for what to say next, it was awful. “How was your sleep?” I mumble nervously.

“Yeah, great. You look lively as ever aside from the fact that you haven’t slept for at least 36 hours.” I realised that she was right, I hadn’t slept at all. I shifted between my feet nervously, I found myself looking down a little and shoving my hands into my pockets. I stopped.

“Yeah, must be the amount of hot chocolate.”

“Of course that’s what it is. Well, you should get some rest and I might see you tonight.” She gave me a clean sort of smile and stood on her toes to kiss me on the cheek, i was so dazed that I didn't notice her catching up with everyone as they walked down the hall. She looked back at me with another smile. I leant forward and thumped my head on the wall several times and walked through the door and closed it. I stumbled over to the couch and fell onto it.

“I heard that.” Said Hiccup’s voice, coming from his bunk. He was just sitting in the shadow reading some sort of book in the light of his window. I leapt up into the air for an exhilarating second and fell back to the ground. “Oh hey, Hic. I didn’t realise you were in here.” He laughed as small as it was, it was still a laugh. “I wish I filmed that reaction.”

“I kinda wish you did too. Why aren’t you at breakfast?”

“I’ll get it at the garage, we’ve got a bit of a snack bar down there now. Besides, how does one jump off of their front, a metre off of a couch when startled?”

“Is that really what happened?” I asked, sitting back down.

“Now I really wish I had filmed it.”

“I honestly don’t know, bro. if I did, I’d probably tell you. In the meantime, I’m just going to wash up before Flynn and Merida get here.”

“Go right ahead.” So I did, I grabbed a change of brown pants and a t-shirt I’d been saving to wear for quite a while. It was a blue sweatshirt that said ‘fuck you, you fuckin’ fuck’ there was something about blue sweatshirts that I really liked. They also seemed to find me whenever I was looking for clothes. Hiccup had his excessive use of the colour green and black with some red in the mix, why couldn’t I have my blue sweatshirt?

I got the water running, but as soon as I held my hand out to check the temperature the entire thing froze. A small yelp escaped my mouth, thankfully I was still dressed. “Hiccup! Get in here!” I yelled,

“You know the house rules,” His voice called back, “no sex.”

“It’s urgent!” I pleaded, I heard him get up and walk over. The clinking sound of his leg was a fantastic way in knowing how far away he was.

“I really didn’t think this wouldn’t be a problem of all things.” He was muttering. He stopped short when he saw the frozen shower. “So Elsa, made a small slip up. I’m sure it’ll melt.” He shrugged, turning to leave.

“No, you poof. _I_ did it.” he looked quizzical with one eyebrow raised and slightly exasperated with his arms crossed. Like he’d had enough shit for one day, it was only 9:30am. “Here, I’ll show you.” I went over to the basin and turned the tap, water started to flood out. But as soon as I began to touch it, it froze solid. Hiccup’s eyes were almost as wide as tennis balls. His arms were still crossed.

“What in the name of Thor?” he whispered shakily, “Should we take you down to medical or something?”

“No, I don’t want to be a pin cushion and how would that help?” Hiccup shrugged I paused for a moment, “we could call Elsa, she might know something.”

“Well, it’s worth a shot.” Hiccup walked out of the bathroom, still with a shocked expression on his face. I heard him talking to Elsa on the radio while I sat down on the couch feeling a mixture of emotions. Why me? What was happening? How? Could I have fun with this?

I was thinking so hard that Hiccup’s words were all muffled, “She’s on her way,” said Hiccup, snapping me out of my daydream. “Have you notice anything weird lately, before this?” he asked I thought for a moment.

“Well, I haven’t really been eating, sleeping or feeling the cold.”

“But Elsa eats and sleeps just as much as us normal people.” The door opened and Elsa walked in briskly and went to the bathroom, I caught a glimpse of a slightly horrified and worried expression on her face. We followed her. She looked around the room from the shower to the basin to us, slightly panicked. It was staring to snow, that wasn’t me. I didn’t know what to say, it didn’t look like Hiccup knew either.

“What happened?” she asked, walking out.

“I don’t know.” I stammered.

“I noticed that you haven’t been eating or sleeping after your episode back at my place.”

“Ok, I’m feeling kind of stalked here.”

“Well if you’re worried about someone’s wellbeing you tend to keep an eye on them.”

“So you were worried about me?” I asked, with a bit of a cheesy grin. Elsa let out an enormous sigh and let her arms fall to her sides. “That’s a conversation for another time, just tell me what happened.”

“Well I went to turn on the shower and when I stuck my hand under the water, it just froze same with the tap when I was proving to Hic that you didn’t do it.”

“Well no. I know how to control myself around water.”

“Did this happen to you?” I asked, she shook her head.

“No, I’ve been able to do it for as long as I can remember. But it doesn’t mean that I was always able to control it, that wasn’t until about a year ago.”

“Could the immunisation have had something to do with it?” Hiccup asked all of a sudden, he was probably right again.

“Probably,” she shrugged,

“Wait, how did you know about the immunisation?” I asked, I thought no one knew about my reaction but Hiccup. “I told her, she asked about anything strange and the immunisation came to mind.”

“When was this?”

“I think it was sometime after you were sick and we were about to-“ Hiccup broke off. “I don’t really remember anything around then only that you were sick.”

“Ok, that’s understandable then, given the circumstances. Don’t wear yourself out trying to remember Hic.”

“I guess we’ll just have to keep our heads down, Jack. Try and control it until we find out how we can manage this.” Said Elsa. Flynn and Merida, rushed in at that moment.

“I call first shower!” shouted Flynn, rushing to grab his things and then into the bathroom. Merida shook her head sarcastically. Elsa, Hiccup and I all looked at each other nervously. Then we heard a “WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL UNICORNS AND FRYPANS HAPPENED IN HERE?” come from the bathroom. Flynn was obviously trying not to swear. Merida rushed in to have a look, an exclamation of “GREAT GOLLYWOBBLES!” was what followed. We couldn’t help but laugh at their reactions. After explaining the situation they nodded.

“How are you thinking of controlling it?” asked Merida,

“I have an idea, what if we get some gloves? That’s what I did, and it worked for a while.” Elsa suggested.

“I can’t stand gloves.” I admitted, we thought some more. Nothing. Elsa and Hiccup had to leave for work, leaving just the three of us. Merida and Flynn had a fun time of waiting for the shower to defrost. We just sat around staring at the ceiling and vaguely listening to the radios. The others kept on drifting in and out of sleep, I just couldn’t do that anymore. No pranks to play since it wasn’t allowed.

I retreated up to my bunk and just stared at my hands, I noticed tiny specs of frost on the tips of my fingers. It was weird I tried to flick it off but that wasn’t the result I wanted, a small snowflake grew from the air and floated off. How on earth was I meant to control this? The whole situation was beginning to sink in and make me really anxious. I wanted to find out what was happening to me and how I could control it.

Desperate to find an answer, I tried holding the rail of the bunk, most of it froze when I gripped it. But I had found that at least it was contained. Well, to some extent. That was what I needed.

Having left a note on the coffee table I dashed out of my room to find myself a stick or something. I looked back as I hurriedly walked down the corridors to mechanics, I was leaving a disappearing trail of ice wherever I went. I didn’t care and let out a small laugh.

“Hic!” I called, up at a massive monster army truck that he was sitting on top of, it was rather impressive to be honest. He looked like he was fixing a few circuits or something. “What is it?” he leapt up and peered over the edge of the truck. He looked up at the hanger. “Jack, look at what you’ve done!”

“What?” I looked around, there was a trail of ice down the main road of the hanger and it was spreading to the vehicles, “Whoops.” I could see Gobber looking at it in the distance, he was shaking his head. “Another one?” I heard him mutter in the distance.

“What is it, Jack?” Hiccup climbed down the ladder from the truck and walked over to meet me. He was wiping his greasy hands on a cloth that was just as dirty. “I need a stick, maybe a wooden one.”

“I’m sorry, what? I stick wh-what’s that going to do?”

“Well I noticed that whenever I hold something, the ice thingy is mostly contained.” Hiccup thought for a moment, “Fine, it’s worth a try. Follow me.” He led me on through the cars to Gobber’s workshop. The whole place was basically a giant maze, I began to wonder how anyone would find their way through it.

Gobber and Hiccup’s area was full of scraps of machine parts and various other things just like the last time I was there. Hiccup disappeared into the immense piles of miscellaneous items and emerged a moment later with an “Aha! This should do the trick.”

He held out a long wooden staff, it had a hook at the end. I loved it, “Thanks bro, it’s just like the one I had the day this all started, but better. You know, stronger and not makeshift.” I picked it up and as expected, part of it glittered with frost when I touched it. It then disappeared whenever I let go. It was absolutely perfect. “No problem, anything else before I get back to work?”

“No thanks. This should do the trick, thanks again by the way.”

“Just don’t go around hitting people with It.” he warned, with a bit of a laugh.

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Good.” I left Hiccup to play with more cars and do whatever he did all day. I ran into Gobber on my way out. “Well hello there,” he greeted with a bit of a nervous smile.

“Oh hey, Gobber? Having a good day?”

“Absolutely, seven days until Snoggletog! And things seem to be getting more and more interesting the more time you lot are spending here.”

“Uh, Snoggletog? And I didn’t plan on any of this to happen, honest.”

“We have a bit of a thing going on here, Hiccup calls this place Berk and I call Christmas Snoggletog. You can join in on the naming game if yeh want. We told Stoick about it. He thought it was a wonderful idea, spreads some joy around of the place you know. And of course nobody plans on these things, I just want to know how it all happens. It’s a little unnerving to some folk, the unknown.” He chuckled heartily, the Snoggletog spirit was definitely present. And man, this guy was good at talking.

I left the hanger and walked up what I hoped was the roof, from what I had seen there was nothing up there. I just wanted to feel the fresh air on my face. The higher I climbed the stairs, the less people there were. No one seemed to really worry about me, it was great. I reached the top and opened the door.

As I expected, the cold blast of wind was refreshing, beginning to feel less anxious. I spent the rest of the day up there until the sun began to set and it was time to start my night shift.

I wasn’t even a little tired or hungry.


	20. HICCUP'S POV

The week leading up to Snoggletog was busy, exciting and productive on my part. I had built a range of contraptions that could help capture and kill zombies. There was one with that shot a large net when fired, I liked it the most. Another was called The Mutilator, it shot criss-crossing blades at its target, pretty cool. It was still just a design. Judging by Astrid’s interest into my ideas, she seemed to be a ‘take it down with an axe then take its’ head off’ kind of person, it seemed to suit her and I didn’t want to cramp her style.

The place was growing more and more festive by the minute, then so were the attacks from zombies. We had two in consecutive days. Maybe Berk was attracting them like a bug to a light. How could we know? It was making me restless. What was holding them off before? I couldn’t think about it, I just focused on the machines until Snoggletog Eve. When Dad tried to recruit me, which was a great way to get the spirit to new heights.

He came into my workshop one brisk morning, looking slightly awkward. Which always meant bad news. “Uh, hey Dad.”

“Good morning, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Oh? I need to speak with you too. You can go first.”

“Alright.” He clapped his hands together, “I know you don’t want to but I need you to join the army like some of your friends. You call still work here sometimes if you want, it’s been great having you here. With the increased attacks, we need more people, and numbers are limited. We’re running out.” knowing it would come to this,

“Also there’s something I’ve been thinking about.”

“Yes?”

“With the increased attacks it’s understandable that they’re drawn to us, being alive and all. But what has held them off until we got here? Doesn’t it strike you as odd? Maybe something’s out there.” realisation dawned on my Dad’s face, then turned to a frightened look. He wasn’t going to disagree. “You have a point son, all we can do is defend Berk to the best of our ability. We can only protect our own. Can you promise me that you will try and defend us?” he shook my shoulders and bent down to look me in the eye. When Dad was even a little scared, it was time for everyone to follow suit. He was the bravest man I knew.

“I promise.” I whisper. Dad looked like he’d had a weight lifted off of his shoulders.

“I know it may be a bit much, but would you mind starting today?” he asked, straightening up.

“May as get it over with.” He led me to the armoury to find a jacket that was small enough to fit me. There were plenty left. I picked up a sword from the wall, it was a relatively small one but it felt right in my hand. Dad looked at me approvingly when he saw me in my jacket and having a sheathed sword on a belt that was a little big for my hiking pants. It worried me that this is what it took for him to look proud.

“Well hello there, Hic!” greeted Jack on the barricade a little while after lunch, giving me a side hug when I found them, “Still not sleeping?”

“Nope.”

“Great,” I turned and saw Astrid behind me her arms crossed, she looked worried. Good to know she believed in me.

“So your Dad talked you into it,” said Astrid we sat and stared out though some barbed wire.

“Yeah,”

“Don’t worry bro, it’s Snoggletog Eve. Things will pick up.” Jack patted me on the back, his optimism was touching. “So this is what you guys do here? You stare out into some barren wastelands for any sign of an attack.”

“Pretty much.”

“How’d you guys go the other day, I saw that you guys were caught in it. Not pretty,”

“Yeah,” Astrid begun, “we didn’t get to be a part of the action though, it was on like the other side. We had to stay here and keep watch here. It’s only fun if you get a scar out of it, and we missed out.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Pain, love it!”

“Don’t be so sarcastic Hic, you weren’t so down before.” Jack got up and stood in front of us with his staff as if to give a speech. “On my life and precious staff, we will get these dead little bastards out of this place for good, give us six years. We’ll do it.” Astrid let out a weak smile, and looked at me with radiant hope in her eyes. “Six years? Why not round it off to five?”

“No clue. But I like the number six, let’s give it a shot. Whaddya say?”

“Whatever, we all have a due date.” Agreed Astrid, relaxing and folding her arms behind her head as to enjoy the small ray of sunshine that emerged from the stormy clouds above us.

“Yeah, I’m all for it,” I stood up to get a better look through the barbed wire, “but before we get a chance to do that, we should probably worry about this storm that’s coming.” Astrid and Jack got up to look, there was a massive cloud looming above us. It almost looked as if a blizzard was coming. Astrid swore under her breath. Jack turned to alert the nearest command post but it looked like they already knew. We just stood there.

If there was anything I hated, it was the quiet before the storm or battle. Maybe it was the hollow moan of the wind in my head but I heard something in the distance. I grabbed some binoculars from the edge of the barricade. “God have mercy.” I muttered, Jack snatched the binoculars from me to get a look himself. He was lost for words. “What is it?” Astrid had clear panic in her voice, that wasn’t normal of her.

“Zombies,” muttered Jack, “more than ever before.” We looked at one another terrified then as if we were reading one another’s minds we ran up to the command post. “Zombies! More than ever.” I gasped, “Coming from the forest,” the commander looked up it was the balding guy with the snake skin jacket and cowboy hat. “Well I’ll be damned, call your friend down in the garage. It’s time to get Big Bertha out again.” He spoke with a bit of a southern accent and with something in his teeth. He grabbed a large rifle with a shoulder strap a sash full of ammo and two MP5’s from under his desk I dread to think what else he had under there.

Jack called Gobber for me. The commander ran outside other soldiers were all alerting one another the whole fence knew, within five minutes. Merida and Flynn and almost the whole army even some of the staff had started to arrive. A majority of them were bringing the trucks I had been working on they were led by Big Bertha. It was enough to make me want a bowl of ice cream for comfort. Even better, they brought the netter along with them. They made their way through the city which was full of action, everyone was helping one another. There was no fighting amongst us.

I saw Elsa, Anna and Rapunzel there as well. We all stood together. Dad was standing on the back of Bertha, I was a little intimidated again. The Commander stood next to us, along with his friends who also looked like a crew of misfits. There was a guy who looked to be about twenty who was just as lanky and nerdy looking as me with a girl probably about the same age who wore a lot of eyeliner and had her dark was pulled into a ponytail, next to her was a girl who looked twelve and like other girl’s sister.

Almost the entire force of Berk was standing either in a line along the Barricade of what was now our home or in an army truck or tank. Everyone stared out into the wasteland as an army of zombies which was just as big approached.

“Alright kids!” called the commander, his voice like thunder through the gathering wind. “TIME TO NUT UP OR SHUT UP!” we all cheered. Dad cried something similar and the cheering doubled in volume.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in short, i love zombieland and it was like midnight when i wrote this.


	21. Chapter 21

“I got a suggestion kid,” the Commander leant over to me, loading his gun. “Zombie Kill of the Week.”

“What?” I ask. Of all times to create a contest, I wasn’t sure if it was really good or bad.

“Best and most creative kill of the week, resetting on Mondays, you in?”

“Sure!” Jack jumped into the conversation,

“You’re on!” they fist bumped, ‘ _Why not?’_ I thought to myself, I also took the fist bump.

"The name’s Tallahassee,” he said, pumping his gun.

“Hiccup.”

“Pleased to meet ya, this is Columbus, Wichita and Little Rock.” He gestured to his friends. We all nodded back.

“Ah, this is Jack, Astrid, Elsa, Merida, Anna, Rapunzel and Flynn.” They all waved and smiled, it occurred to me how idiotic we all looked.

“Ok now we’re done with the introductions and competition establishment. Let’s kill these little bitches.” He shot an oncoming zombie in the head. I could see everyone talking about Zombie Kill of the Week, it seemed to be taking off.

The sky was getting darker, the sun may as well be setting. Thunder roared above us and I could hear the wind screaming in the distance. I gripped my sword clumsily and gulped hard. “Hiccup,” Astrid’s voice came from next to me. “Your dad wants you on the truck.”

“Just great.” I mumble. She followed me down to Big Bertha and stopped me before I climbed up on the truck. She caught me completely unaware she gently pulled the collar of my jacket and kissed me. She pulled away after what felt like minutes of blank somewhat pleasant confusion. “Go,” she whispered.

Dad gave me a hand up “Ah, good to see you got my message.”

“Yeah.” I steadied myself, looked at the netter on the back and stared at the massive gate right in front of us. He gave me a me a belt that was connected to the roll cage, he didn’t have one, but I guess he didn’t need it. I tightened the belt to its’ smallest hole and hoped it would stop me from falling. The gate creaked open, revealing a crowd of zombies that were approaching, still a fair way off.

The engine beneath my feet roared and the truck began to move, my stomach lurched. I peered over the edge of the back to look at Astrid, encouragement filled her brilliant blue eyes. I gave her a weak smile as we sped off, followed by most of the garage.

The whole payload of Berk cheered again as they opened fire thankfully not at or around us. I held onto the roll cage as Big Bertha pickup speed to an alarming rate. The wind was blowing in my face, blocking out almost all gunfire or any sound at all. Well, except for Dad’s thunderous voice. “Open fire!” he roared. Struggling to the nearest machine gun and opened fire, Dad was doing the same with two guns.

The whole machine gun shook violently in my hands, making my whole body shake uncontrollably. Blood splattered everywhere, I chose to shut my mouth tightly. Which was probably wise. Their faces were enough to give me nightmares, all dead and dripping with red. I didn’t focus on it.

Then the general area froze almost instantly, great spikes of ice impaled countless amounts of zombies instantaneously.

Dad and I looked up, Elsa was gliding on the land, ice at her feet. She was freezing everything she could. I smiled at the sight of her, she was amazing. So far, I think she was winning Zombie Kill of the Week. Jack was soon to follow, but slightly different way. He was _flying?_ He stood on his staff, holding it with one hand like he was surfing it. A gust of wind supported and carried him, “Thanks for the ride, Hic!” he called as he flew over our heads.

“Your friends may be an odd bunch, but they look like they know what they’re doin’,” Dad said from behind me with a grin. I returned to firing at the zombies, still advancing. So far, I think Elsa was winning Zombie Kill of the Week.

Still, the zombies advanced and so did the storm. Which was probably being worsened by the amount of ice which was helping the situation more than anything. The wind screamed, it was almost unbearable. I think I saw something shoot across the sky, maybe lightning? But lightning wasn’t black.

Too busy to over think anything, I kept firing where the zombies hadn’t been taken down by the ice. Another Jeep aligned up alongside us, Astrid and Merida were standing though the sun roof grinning and firing like nothing else. I saw Flynn driving the car and I could see Rapunzel riding shotgun, she was probably there for first aid. Waving to me and picking up his radio. I saw Gobber pick it up and nod. Then, at that moment I heard _‘Lonely Boy’_ blasting over the loudspeakers.

Elsa caught up to me on my left, surfing the ice as easily as Jack did on his staff. Merida however, had found a snowboard and rode the ice. Shooting zombies left, right and centre. Some arrows exploded on impact, sometimes taking out about ten zombies around it. My friends seemed to be practically invincible. I just kept shooting and trying my best not to fuck things up.

There was a whole herd of trucks throughout the area, we were winning. I heard an explosion from within the forest. Something about it was awfully familiar. Then I remembered, it was the same as the one that destroyed the building. When I lost my leg. If it weren’t for the belt, I would have fallen over. The people around us seemed to notice it but they soon returned to killing zombies.

Jack landed on the back of the truck, “How are you able to fly?” I shout over the noise.

“I dunno, I just let the wind do it for me and the staff seems to help. But more importantly, what the fuck caused that explosion?”

“I have no idea, we should check it out.”

“Hic, it’s too dangerous.”

“You want to talk to me about dangerous? We’re in the middle of a battle here, how much worse can it get?”

“There could be more of them in there!”

“I’m willing to take that chance. I need to find out what that was!” another horrendous explosion like the one before erupted from within the trees. Dad nodded for me to go, Jack still looked conflicted about the whole idea. “Fine, I’ll keep an eye on you from above.”

“Thanks. Bro.” Jack summed up his energy and got Elsa to help freeze all the zombies within a fifty metre radius. It bought us sometime and all of them were killed within a minute. Ash was flying through the air, and it stank. I felt like I needed a mask. I slung a spare MP5 onto my back, checked that my sword was still secure and jumped from the ladder. Landing awkwardly on my prosthetic, I had to get used to doing that. The ground was moist with snow and blood, dead zombies lay scattered through the land making me sick to my stomach.

I ran over to a nearby dirt bike, flipped my foot to the one for a pedal and picked it up. It was just right, it was red and black with a spotlight on the front. It illuminated the grey deathly atmosphere. The whole thing spluttered to life when I revved it. The foot was also a perfect fit, maybe luck w _as_ on my side today.

Speeding off into the forest and finding a small trail into it, Jack followed. He froze and decapitated any zombie that came near me. I grinned up at him as if to say ‘thank you’. What struck me was that he could have left, but he stayed and helped. Then, he disappeared behind the leaves above me. I began to feel alone and slightly comforted at the same time. It was hard to explain.

I focused on the trail, trying not to stray from it or to fall off of the bike. Which proved to be an easy enough task, if I was concentrated on it. I peered through the trees for a sign of anything, maybe I should have grabbed a helmet. Anyhow, there wasn’t enough time. Something rustled in the trees loud enough for me to hear it over the sound of ‘ _Die Young_ ’ and the roar of people and engines alike. There was something in the trees, it reminded me of something else. I couldn’t remember. I tried so hard, but it began to give me a headache. Then all of a sudden I did, I _remembered._ I felt like I was driving a 4x4, one that they had at Elsa and Anna’s house. It was night, probably in the early morning and I saw something in the trees alongside us.

This is what I had forgotten.

A large ridge jolted me out of my daydream and I was falling or flying through the air, into a ditch. “Hiccup!” I heard Jack scream. Then for a second everything was in a black and painfully dizzy haze. The thing that snapped me awake was the feeling of hot breath on my face. I didn’t dare open my eyes, no human could do that and _certainly_ not Jack. It came again. Admittedly, the warm air was rather nice, but stank of seafood. It was better than rotting corpses, something I had adjusted to.

I squinted my eyes open to find two massive green catlike ones staring back at me, inches from my face and a large scaly nose almost touching mine. My forehead ached, the nose sniffed it and I smelt it too. I had a gash and probably a concussion.

When I opened my eyes completely I noticed a large black scaly creature with wings, it almost looked like… a _cat._ But it was a dragon. I had never seen one in real life before, like most people. A large slobbery tongue licked my face, yuck, it had no teeth. There was something strangely familiar about all this.

Out of pure cluelessness I whispered, “ _Toothless?”_ the dragon sat back and I shifted up, my back and head ached, the rest of me was fine. I landed on the MP5, and boy, I wasn’t going to do that again in a hurry. At least I didn’t have to worry about my leg. It was staring at me I made a nervous and awkward smile at it, it began to contort his face into something that almost looked like a smile. It was rather funny.

“Toothless?” I asked again, more confidently this time. It nodded. I laughed, I was just so relieved and I had tears in my eyes. I got up to give him a hug, he was giant now he was at least two feet taller than me when sitting on his hind legs. I immediately fell forward, still a little dazed, he caught me. I just hugged him in a relieved silence. “Thank you bud.” I whispered. “Was it you who blew up that building and was killing all the zombies and following us on our way here?” he nodded again, he looked very pleased, I took that as a yes.

He dipped his head and sniffed my leg and made a sad little moan as he looked back up at me. Was it his fault? No, it was an accident. “You saved my life, bud. I said quietly.” If the building hadn’t exploded, I would have been infected and dead. “I’ll try and make it up to you. I’m sorry about what happened with Jack, and he’s sorry too.” it all felt so long ago, but it was worth closing the case.

“Hiccup!” called Jack’s voice again, it was panicked, “Hiccuuuppp? Where are you?”

“I’m here, Jack!” I yelled back and Jack emerged from the trees. And went a little white with shock when he saw toothless and held is staff at him. Toothless hissed, apparently he had teeth. They were just retractable. A little bit of a misnomer there.

“No, no!” I stood in between them arms out. “Jack, this is Toothless. Toothless you remember Jack?” neither of them budged, “Jack ah, you might want to lower the staff there buddy.” Reluctantly, Jack obeyed and Toothless happily jumped over to him and licked his face as if to say ‘sorry’. Jack laughed, wiping the slobber from his cheek. “Good to see you again! and I'm not even going to ask how this happened!” he patted him on the head.

Toothless bounced back over to me and snuck his head under my arm and cuddled me and I cuddled him back. I was so happy. “Alright, now we’re done with the reunion. We have a battle to win.” Said Jack, we heard a dead groan come from behind us. With lightning speed, Toothless turned around and blew it to bits with a blast of plasma. “And he could come in handy, but how are we going to stop the folks from firing at Toothless. They’re going to see him as just another threat.”

Toothless’s ear flaps, lowered and his eyes narrowed. He looked a little offended, “He’s right Bud,” I patted him on the head and he relaxed. “How about we call them?” I asked,

“Sure, Cap’n Haddock.”

“Cut it out, let’s just get this thing done.” I pulled out my radio. “Dad!”

“What is it, son?” came my Dad’s voice, over the static, “Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a few bruises and a bit of a surprise?”

“Well, what kind of surprise?”

“Ahhh,” I looked back at toothless and Jack, both were pulling faces at each other. “Just whatever you see in the sky, don’t shoot at it. Tell everyone.”

“Fine,”

“Well that’s all taken care of.” I said, “What now?”

“I can fly back, and so can you. Eh, Toothless?” Toothless made a happy rumbling sound from within his chest and nudged me gently.

“Uh, no. I’m sorry.”

“Come on Hic. You can do it!” he said, nudging me on the shoulder. I sighed, and looked at Toothless, it wasn’t like he was going to drop me. “Fine.” I climbed onto Toothless’s back, which proved hard when I didn’t want to hurt him but hold on tightly. If I was going to keep flying, I would need a saddle, but that was a matter for later. “Is that ok, Bud?” I asked, my voice shook a little. This was a little weird. He looked at me with a bit of a smile and sniffed happily. “Ok then.” Jack glided up leaving one of us ready to go.

I was not ready or prepared for this thing. In short, when Toothless shot up into the air and did a bit of a turn at an alarming speed. I was dazed, confused, a little terrified and clinging on for dear life. Toothless slowed and went into a slower glide and let me steady myself, there was almost nothing to hold onto. I grabbed the strap from the MP5 and loosely put it around his neck. He snorted affirmatively and we sped on with growing confidence.

“Let’s do this.” I said and we picked up even more speed until we were over the battlefield. “Holy shit,” I mutter, there were still so many zombies and you could see were Elsa was by the path of ice and seeing so many frozen zombies was impressive. Toothless looked down in panic. It was almost like we were losing. ‘E _verybody Wants Some_ ’ by Van Halen was now blaring, everyone was still fighting. Our numbers looked slightly smaller. I blinked back some tears.

Everyone was staring at us, they clearly got our message and didn’t shoot us down. That was good. “Let’s take down these Sons of Bitches!” I yell over the grey dirty sound of battle. Toothless let out an awesome roar in agreement and fired at the un-frozen zombies, wiping out more than anyone could count. Tallahassee yelled over a megaphone “I think you’ve got Zombie Kill of the Week, son!” then Astrid seemed to have snatched it from him, “Take ‘em down, Babe!” she roared. Jack soared alongside me, “You got this Bro!” he yelled over the wind and surfing off on the staff and freezing everything he could.

I burst out laughing. More plasma, more ice more dead zombies, we all struck out in full battle until there were no more. Toothless and I soared around the field, I grabbed the MP5 and fired at any zombie I could. Turns out I wasn’t as horrible at this zombie killing thing as I may have thought a month ago.

The song ended with the battle and we landed next to Big Bertha. Dad leapt down from the truck and hugged me, laughing. “Thanks, Dad.” I Squeaked, still a little bruised of course. When he let me go, Astrid came up next to me and I felt Toothless's nose nudge me into he arms when I just took the chance and kissed her and she actually kissed me back. I heard some ‘ooohhhh’s come from around us. It didn’t matter, most of us lived and those who didn’t. They’d be remembered, for sure. I hugged her closer for a few seconds and we let go. “I knew you had it in you,” she whispered in my ear.

She hugged me again, this time _everyone_ joined in, even Toothless. As awkward as it was, nobody minded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, im sorry to say this but one more chapter to wrap it up folks!
> 
> but stick around because the sequel will be coming out within the next fortnight or so!  
> ive just about finished planning so i've only got to write it! (that's probably both the fun and hard part)


	22. JACK's POV

If you’ve ever been in a group hug of at least five hundred people, you’d know how I felt for about half an hour that night. It wasn’t like I minded either, the only problem was getting enough air which was quickly taken care of. The mass hugging broke up as the blizzard officially began to roll in, it had been holding off on us.

Those who were still alive wearily wandered into Berk through the gate in a dirty procession of blood and mud with a few Jeeps scattered through it. Gobber hurried off (being completely unscratched) to redirect the hot water to the street taps. Moments later, it was raining warmth and we were all drenched, Toothless was splashing about around us. He was the splitting image of happiness, splashing us with his tail. The whole thing quickly turned into a mass water fight.

Where ever I walked ice followed but because the warmth was so abundant, it almost immediately melted.

Afterwards, we had a nurse come to check up on all of us, Hiccup was the only who needed attention with his gash on his forehead and a massive purple bruise on his back in the shape of an MP5.We lit bonfires, toasted marshmallows (properly this time) and remembered the fifty we lost in the last few hours. We found a quiet corner of the camp under some makeshift shelter and sat down with a galleon thermos each of steaming hot chocolate and a complementary cookie.

Rapunzel and Flynn, who appeared to be sleeping, sat next to me and Elsa, who let me put my arm over her shoulders (score!). Merida and Anna lay on the ground in the centre of our semi-circle, their hands behind her head, staring and smiling at the fairy lights that survived the water fight. As for Hiccup and Astrid, they sat up against Toothless.

“You did good today.” Whispered Elsa in my ear,

“You too, surfing the ice with Merida; that was epic! You two were unstoppable!”

“And you surfing the _air,_ that was incredible!” Added Hiccup,

“And Toothless,” he turned to look at me, “You and Hiccup and all of the rest of us are one of the main reasons most of us are alive right now.” There were hi-fives all around.

Gobber’s voice came blaring over the loudspeaker, “Happy Snoggletog everyone! And Zombie Kill of the Week goes to: _drumroll please,”_ I swear everyone in Berk was either stamping their feet or drumming or something in anticipation, this was an entirely new type of thunder and earthquake. “Hiccup and Toothless!”

There was an uproar of cheering, Hiccup’s face was priceless; it showed a range of emotions, varying from delight to pure terror. Flynn and I grinned at one another, it looked like he knew what I was thinking. We jumped up and hoisted Hiccup onto our shoulders and carried him out into the main plaza where people crowded and applauded him and Toothless who was looking very pleased with himself.

“Hey, Hic!” I called up to him over the cheering.

“What is it?”

“You know that dance that we were supposed to have at school?”

“What about it?”

“Let’s have it now!”

“Oh, no!” we let him down and I called Gobber to get him to put some more music on. And then I turned to Elsa, “I never got a partner for that, so will you be with my partner for this dance, madam?” she smiled, and took my hand.

“Ok.”

 _Geronimo_ by Sheppard came on at that moment, Hiccup and Astrid, Flynn and Rapunzel and Merida and Anna, all danced. Toothless joined in with Hiccup and Astrid. And in the main plaza with everyone else, we had our school dance to a playlist of _Guardians of the Galaxy’s Awesome Mix._ Elsa and I worked together to create a light snow which shone like the fairy lights.

“Hey Flynn!” I called just as ‘ _Aint Mountain High Enough’_ was about to come on, “You and Punz sing, right?”

“So do we!” chorused Elsa and Anna

“Gobber, get some microphones!” I called, Gobber came a moment later with the microphones,

“What are yeh planning on doin’?”

“Sing along,” Gobber went off to get them and a minute later, he returned. I handed out the microphones to Flynn, Elsa, Anna and Rapunzel. “Here are yourcrophones.”

 _‘Cos’ baby there aint no mountain high enough!’_ They chorused in perfect tone and unison, then the rest of Berk joined in “ _There aint no valley loooooooww enouuugh, aint no river wide enough! To keep me from getting to you, babe.”_ Elsa pulled me into the centre of the plaza with all the singers and made me join in. Merida and the others just joined in for the hell of it.

Admittedly, I wasn’t a good singer. I didn’t care, no one did and we jammed it until the end of the song when I took my chances and hugged Elsa close to me. She stared up at me with her big blue eyes and she kissed me. We had more ‘oooooohh’s than Hiccup and Astrid beforehand. Now I knew how they felt. Completely unable to give a shit. I liked it when I felt that way.

We let go and danced until it was about 1am, it was the best Christmas ever. Soon it was getting far too cold for everyone, except Elsa and me of course. We followed the group to our room, Elsa and I had our arms over each other’s shoulders, her head on my shoulder. Bursting in to the room laughing, and being too tired to do anything, we all took the wrong bunks. Elsa and I didn't let go, so we shared. I began to drift off with her head on my shoulder. Hiccup and Astrid were doing the same on Merida’s bunk next to us. we still obeyed the House Rules, no sex.

“Happy Snoggletog!” whispered Rapunzel from the bunk above us and we all exchanged the holiday wish quietly. All I could really think was that I had finally _scored a girlfriend._

It was basically hugs all around as we listened to the distant sound of _'Come and Get Your Love'_ and finally fell asleep full of hot chocolate and cookies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well! that's all folks! thanks for the support and I have already started the sequel  
> hoping to hear from you soon!


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